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According to the Daily Telegraph, on April 14th 2005, a battered shoe worn by a Hungarian tourist in Sydney sparked an investigation into a Roulette syndicate cheating top casinos across Europe.
Two Belgian police officers will fly to Sydney later this month to study the shoe design which they suspect could be behind the multi-million dollar European fraud.
Four years ago, Sydney detectives arrested Hungarian tourist Laszlo Sendor Kovacs after he won large bets at a Star City casino roulette wheel.
Casino security personnel became suspicious of the then 59-year-old gambler as he constantly tapped his right foot under a roulette table.
Police found a microcomputer hidden in the heel and sole of his scuffed elevated dress shoe.
By tapping his toe, a microcomputer in the shoe transmitted a voice-synthesized message to a wireless micro-earpiece telling the user the speed of roulette wheel. This could help calculate the next number that would appear.
Police found $74,184 in cash and chips on Kovacs' body including $10,000 in his underwear.
Belgian and Sydney police are assisting an inquiry, known as the European Union Court of First Instance, into large scale casino frauds which they suspect involves shoes allegedly designed by Kovacs. The Sydney shoe however, is the only one of its kind found so far.
Kovacs, a professional gambler, was deported from Australia in 2001 before he could be sentenced over "using a device" to defraud the Star City Casino. A warrant for his arrest is now in place should he return to Australia.
European police believe Kovacs may have assisted a well-known European criminal gang to perfect the microprocessor shoe technology. He has been questioned by police in Europe, including in London.
Kovacs, who visited every casino along the East Coast, won more than $120,000 at Star City before his arrest, although police suspect he won twice that amount. The evidence shows that he used the Pyrmont Post Office to wire a large amount of money in $10,000 increments to an overseas account.
In Other Roulette News
For the past two decades, the bulk of the casino industry's gambling revenue has been generated by the rows of video slot machines. In an effort to keep slots from taking all the business away from other Casino games, the new trend in gambling is to add technology to some of the old favorites.
Roulabette for Armchair/Bedside Gamblers
This could be the start of a new trend for casino lovers. Join in a game from a distance, bet from your own armchair or bedside. Kenilworth Systems Corporation, for example, has resumed operations developing a new product called "Roulabette."
Roulabette allows you to view and play along with live casino table games.
Instead of going down to the casino, you simply switch on the closed-circuit television and choose to "play along" with any casino table game - roulette, blackjack, craps - broadcast via Roulabette terminals within the casino. Eventually, the system will operate via digital direct satellite broadcasts around the world. The terminals are self-sufficient to manage wagers from 25 cents to $100.
Electronic Roulette
In Vancouver casinos, a new version of Roulette is quickly growing in play. British Columbia casinos are using a version of Roulette, combining the basic game and video technology.
Electronic, touch screen video Roulette games, utilizing a live Roulette game with satellite video screens are being used to allow more players to play a standard roulette game. Normally, Roulette can handle up to 7 or 8 players at a live game. Using video technology however, these touch screen games with terminals can allow as many other players as the casino wishes to play the game. One live Roulette game in British Columbia allows 50 players at one time with great success.
Friendly Dealers
In an effort to get more people to the Roulette tables and off the slots, dealers today are urged to be more customer friendly. Personality is often is important as the mechanics of shuffling the cards. Some dealers are even scripted in how to greet and treat the players.
Some casino executives believe there should be a continuing effort to train customers on the rules of the games. Five years ago, there were more classes on how to play Roulette than there are today. This is odd, because about 50 percent of the visitors to Las Vegas are first-time visitors. However, casino lessons have been a dying trend for the last four years. The casinos are banking instead on new technology and friendly faces rather than educating the unwilling gambler.
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