Archie Karas - caught cheating
jay:
Archie Karas carved out a name for himself as the legendary gambler who stumbled through Las Vegas casinos in the early 1990s on a two-year streak of extraordinary luck, turning $50 into $40 million.
But the world-famous gambler’s luck ran out last week when Nevada gaming agents arrested him at his Las Vegas home for allegedly marking cards at a California Indian casino and walking away from the blackjack tables with $8,000 in swindled cash.
Prosecutors say surveillance video cameras caught Karas — born Anagyros Karabourniotis — putting “subtle but distinguishable” marks on the backs of playing cards at a Barona Casino blackjack table so he could determine card values before the dealer revealed them with a flip, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Karas, 62, now stands charged with burglary and winning by way of fraud. If convicted, he could spend up to three years behind bars.
The Barona Gaming Commission eventually caught on to Karas and alerted the California Department of Justice Bureau of Gambling Control, which then opened an investigation.
A regular on the World Series of Poker, Karas notched his legendary gambling streak between 1992 and 1995, earning $40 million only to lose it all to gambling.
An extradition hearing is set for Thursday. Until then, Karas remains in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
jay:
I had read someplace that he had special contact lens'es that could read the invisible marks.
jay:
California Justice Department spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said Karas was doing the marking with dye inserted into a hollowed-out gambling chip that he would inconspicuously swipe over the cards while playing through a deck.
A search warrant executed on Karas's home turned up hollowed-out chips from other casinos, but so far no other gambling establishments have lodged complaints against him, Gregory said.
But authorities said Karas has been accused of cheating before.
"The Nevada Gaming Control Board has investigated Karas on multiple occasions resulting in four arrests," said Karl Bennison, that agency's enforcement chief, said in a statement. "Karas has been a threat to the gaming industry in many jurisdictions."
jay:
The Karabourniotis incident follows a recent arrest at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut, in which a stud poker player was found to be wearing infrared contact lenses that allowed him to detect cards he’d previously marked with invisible ink. A similar scam resulted in prison sentences and hefty fines for a gang of Italian poker players who nearly got away with bilking Groupe Lucien Barriere’s Les Princes casino in Cannes, France out of €100k.
Karabourniotis has been charged with cheating at cards on four separate occasions by Nevada authorities, including one incident of card-marking dating back to 1988. In each case, Karabourniotis reached a deal to plead the case down to a misdemeanor. Regardless, Karabourniotis was called “a threat to the gaming industry in many jurisdictions” by Nevada Gaming Control Board enforcement chief Karl Bennison.
jay:
Friday, Oct. 4, 2013 | 5:46 p.m.
A well-known professional gambler accused of cheating at cards at a Southern California casino has agreed to be extradited from Nevada to California.
Chryste Domingo, executive aide to Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure in Las Vegas, says Archie Karas agreed to the extradition on Thursday.
Karas, 62, was arrested at his Las Vegas home in September. He remains jailed at the Clark County Detention Center pending his transfer in custody to San Diego to face charges that could get him up to three years in prison if convicted.
The San Diego County district attorney alleges the 62-year-old Karas won $8,000 in July by marking blackjack cards at the Barona Casino.
Karas is a high-stakes gambler known for a 1992-95 winning streak that earned him $40 million at Las Vegas tables before he gambled it away
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