A young PhD student from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, has created a way to expose casino cheaters. Wesley Cooper, a mathematician, has developed an automated surveillance system that is able to detect if a player is counting cards. This system uses statistical analysis and “smart” video cameras to build a profile of players and uses that information to spot irregularities during the card game.

The new surveillance system is called Clear Deal and was developed by Cooper at Trinity’s Graphics, Visions and Visualization research department. The system is currently being tested at an international casino for a trial period. Cooper has said the feedback from the casino has been good and he hopes that other casinos will use his technology as well, once the trial period is over.

Cooper has stated that “Blackjack is beatable if you have a good math brain. At the moment, casino surveillance staff have to watch the tables and try to identify suspicious play using their experience and instincts. This system does the same job automatically using computer-vision techniques and algorithms.”

The Irish Research Council for Science was the financial backer for the system, making it possible for Cooper to do research and create the final product. From his research, Cooper found that it is important to build a profile of a serious player, to identify the profitable players and give them drinks and food to keep them gambling.

Cooper’s system compares each decision a player makes to a simulated player who is “perfect” to determine the skill level of the player. Cooper says this comparison can determine: “if someone is proficient or just lucky. A skilled player with a good mathematical mind can count cards, giving them a statistical edge over the casino. Blackjack is 3,000 years old and people have been counting cards as long as it has been around.”

If this system is found efficient enough to seek out the cheating players, then casinos all over the world will want to try it out. Large amounts of money are spent every year for monitoring cheating and the casinos would have a huge advantage if one system could monitor all tables at once.


- 2008-08-25