Cyber Gambling a.k.a. Crime Online
Dear Mark,
I have found a couple of web sites that survey blackjack conditions at various
casinos and sometimes they quote a "Penetration Percentage." Exactly
what is that? Is there anything a player can do to influence it? Dennis
L. Loveland, OH
How many cards a dealer pitches from his deck before he shuffles is called
penetration. If he deals all the cards out, that's 100 percent penetration.
For the average Joe playing on the game, penetration has little significance.
However, for the card counter, the depth of penetration is a key variable
on whether to play on that game. The deeper a counter can go into a deck,
the better.
You also asked, Dennis, if you can influence it? Sort of. Every casino has
a set policy on how deep they will allow their dealers to go before they
want them to shuffle-up. But casinos do have lazy dealers who don't like
to shuffle. Shuffling forces them to be certified friendly and converse
with the customer. Believe me, no amount of Prozac is going to get a stiff
dealer yapping. One dealer told me that for 10 years, working in four different
casinos, he always dealt to the bottom of the deck to avoid conversation.
Not once did a pit boss or the "eye in the sky" ask him to change
his rogue conduct.
By the way, that dealer is now running a casino in the Midwest.
Dear Mark,
I live in California and don't want to drive to Las Vegas just to place
football bets. I've heard that you can make wagers to sportsbooks in Nevada
over the phone. Any truth to this? Russell M. North Hollywood, CA
Nevada casinos do offer account wagering via the phone, Russell, but ONLY
if you live in the state of Nevada. Making a bet from outside of Nevada
violates the Interstate Wire Act (18 U.S.C. 1084). This code provides criminal
penalties to anyone engaging in the business of betting when using a wire
communication facility for the transmission of interstate (that's you, Russell)
or foreign commerce of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest.
Russell, you technically can't even call up a high school buddy who is dealing
dice at the Mirage and ask him to place bets for you.
Before I Shuffle: Bill Harris, TV anchor at WJRT, an ABC affiliate
in Flint, MI, called and asked if I would share some thoughts on the direction
of internet gambling for an upcoming three-part special his television station
is producing. And that direction? Like many of the experts who follow cyber
gambling, I also believe it will become a $10 billion industry by the end
of the century. Cyber gambling, a.k.a. crime-online because it's illegal
(see Q&A above), will grow leaps and bounds once the masses are exposed
to it. Today, you have to be half-way computer literate and use your desktop
computer as a betting terminal. Soon it will appear on your television set
as the internet becomes one of your cable system channels. It's also through
cable TV that bandwidth (speed)will increases a thousandfold. Through this
high-speed connection you'll be able to recreate a total Las Vegas experience
right from your Lazyboy recliner. And if an off-shore Caribbean casino loses
its shirt, pulls the plug on its computer and goes dark without paying off
its winners? Sorry Charlie! You'll be the one caught in a gill net.
For better or worse, cyberspace is gambling's next unexplored periphery.
Bill Harris and Seinfeld reruns will soon have to compete with an electrobookie
or a cybernetic one-armed bandit.
Got a question about gambling? Write to: Deal Me In, 774 Mays Blvd.
Suite 10, Incline Village, NV 89451 or e-mail:winners@winner.com
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