By Detective Dave Hanich
When you think of card-counting, does your mind wander to the movie “21” where students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) organized into a blackjack-cheating team using nothing more than their high IQs and advanced level math skills and made millions “cheating” Las Vegas casinos. Or do you perhaps think of “Rainman” where Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic man with a unique ability to instantly recall hundreds of objects in his mind, thereby abetting his brother, played by Tom Cruise, to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in one night?
Hollywood dramatizes and celebrates the “advantage player” in movie lore, but there is a sliding scale of the perception of the advantage player. Are they casino-cheaters or are they just using their innate gift to the best of their ability? It depends on who you ask - the casino employees, casino owners or the average patron playing at the tables.
It also depends on how players use their skills: Are they part of a team sharing their information and working tactically or are they instead mentally tallying up cards for their own advantage? But in the current digital age where we all have access to computers and infinite amounts of information with just a few key words into a search engine, the “advantage player” has come into being.
With sports betting set to include fantasy sports and exploding all over the world, and many countries expanding laws to allow casinos and betting houses to take more and more action, so goes the expansion of people trying to gain an edge by using technology to their advantage and monetary gain.
In recent years, there have been many instances of bettors and gamblers using artificial intelligence (AI), logarithms able to perform millions of computations per second and many other ways to gain even the slightest of advantages. This is the new “advantage player” in today’s age and their winnings can be in the millions.
About the author
Detective Dave Hanich is a Delaware state trooper currently assigned to the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), responsible for all criminal investigations relating to gaming offences. He has been assigned to DGE from almost the inception of the unit, which was formed when casino gaming expanded to table games and sports-betting in the State of Delaware.
Previously, Dave worked for six years within the Criminal Investigations Unit (burglary and major crimes) where he was tasked with working felony level cases ranging from fraud to attempted murder. He joined DGE in 2010 and has variously worked on applicant/vendor background investigations, criminal enforcement/investigations, and intelligence. In 2012 and 2013, Dave was nominated for state-wide Trooper of the Year based on his investigations and accomplishments within the Delaware Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The Advantage Player in the Digital Age will be featured at the upcoming 4th Dutch Caribbean AML & Regulation Forum, June 4-7 at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. To register, go to www.govrisk/DCGRF2019 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
