Casinos across Britain are tightening up security and reviewing their security after three gamblers who used a mobile phone to win more than a million at the Ritz were allowed to keep their takings.
There is a device in the phones that apparently helped them to predict the outcome of every spin of a roulette wheel. Scotland yard has decided that there is no need to prosecute the gamblers and gave them back their winnings, which police had captured at the time of their arrest.
The three that were apprehended were arrested in March this year after the Ritz casino management reviewed CCTV footage and called for police. They had won 1.3 million over two nights at the popular hut for Arab princess and international playboys.
Their first night there they were awarded 100,000 and the next night they returned and won 1.2 million. They were alleged to have a scanner inside a mobile phone linked to a microcomputer. The scanner measured the speed of the roulette ball as the croupier released it and identified where it fell and measure the decline fall of the wheel.
The data came through to the microcomputer, which ran through thousands of possible outcomes to determine which section numbers the ball would land. The data was flashed on to the screen of the phone just before the wheel made its third spin, by then the bets would be placed.
By doing this, they reduced their odds by winning from 37-1 to 6-1, the three placed bets on all six numbers in the section where the ball would end up.
Legal sources say that the gamblers did not break any laws because their scanner did not interfere with the game or cause any commotion.