That Time When a Canadian Casino Tried Prosecuting Card Counters

Card counters have long dealt with casinos harassing and even banning them. However, they rarely have to face the courtroom.

Card counting isn’t illegal in any well-established gambling jurisdictions. After all, skill-based play isn’t a crime.

Nevertheless, Casino Windsor (now Caesars Windsor) once tried prosecuting a group of card counters. I’ll discuss this case below along with how badly it played out for the casino.

Tommy Hyland Team Decimates Casino Windsor for $100,000

New casinos often serve as popular targets of card counters. Casino Windsor was no exception when it opened in 1994.

Barbara Dancey, Karen Conroy, and Christopher Zalis saw a profitable opportunity at the casino. All three were part of the infamous Tommy Hyland squad, which is currently the longest-running blackjack team (began in 1979).

They devised a strategy that not only included card counting, but also tracking aces through the shuffle (i.e. ace sequencing). Dancey and Conroy wore pop-off bead bracelets, and they used the beads to count the aces they’d tracked.

The trio earned more than $100,000 in profits over the course of three days. By this point, they’d drawn a lot of suspicion from staff members.

The latter were looking for any bit of indication that the team was cheating. Following plenty of surveillance, Casino Windsor felt that they’d found it in the form of the bead-counting method.

Casino Windsor Prosecutes Card Counters

Up until the mid-1990s, casinos usually dealt with card counters in one of three ways:

• Limiting a player’s stakes.
• Escorting the card counter(s) out and banning them.
• Back rooming the player (i.e. beating them up in a back room).

Gambling establishments still use the first two options frequently today. Luckily, security very rarely back rooms anybody these days.

One thing that casinos don’t normally do, though, is come up with bogus reasons to prosecute advantage gamblers. Although casinos have the right to kick out skilled gamblers (except in New Jersey), they fully realize that no crimes are being committed.

The Windsor casino pursued a strategy that the players were using a cheating device. They concluded that the pop-off beads counted as a device in this instance.

However, neither Windsor nor Ontario had any laws against incorporating devices into advantage gambling at the time.

Casino Windsor came up with a new strategy that claimed the players were cheating because they used hand signals. Card counting teams commonly use hand signals to notify a “big player” when the deck is hot.

Conroy and Dancey served as the “spotters” who determine when a deck was rich in aces. They’d send Zalis the signal, who’d come in and start betting big immediately.

As a result, he didn’t need to raise his bets from the table minimum to 10x or 20x this amount. Such bet spreads are a dead giveaway to pit bosses who are monitoring players.

According to legal experts, the casino officially charged the players under section 209 of the Criminal Code. Section 209 states:

“Everyone who, with intent to defraud any person, cheats while playing a game or in holding the stakes for a game or in betting is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.”

What Did the Ontario Courtroom Decide?

Prosecutors in R v Zalis discussed the great lengths that this card counting team was willing to go to beat Casino Windsor. As part of the famed Tommy Hyland team, they used a disciplined approach that involved training, camouflaging, and even a team manual.

Each member needed to pass a test to prove their skills (much like the MIT blackjack team). They also had to take a lie detector test to ensure their honesty.

As for camouflaging, this term refers to efforts that card counters make to conceal their intentions. They try blending in so as to avoid letting the pit boss know they’re counting cards.

The defense team argued that the gamblers were merely using basic advantage play techniques that are prevalent around the world. They also noted that the team did nothing to alter the rules or course of the game (i.e. using cheating devices).

In the end, the jury sided with the players. They agreed that the card counters did nothing outside the bounds of standard advantage play.

The judge did recognize that casinos have the ability to take necessary means to combat advantage gamblers. Casino Windsor had every right to ask the card counters to stop playing due to their rights as a private business.

What Precedent Did the Court Have for Letting the Gamblers Walk?

The judge and jury in R v Zalis had plenty of past incidents to draw from in other gambling jurisdictions. Atlantic City and Las Vegas are just two examples of famous gambling jurisdictions that legally recognize advantage play.

Again, casinos have the right to refuse service to players for almost any reason—including card counting. But the players can also exploit casinos as long as they’re not altering the game rules with marked cards, devices, etc.

In R v McGarey, the Canadian Supreme Court noted that players aren’t allowed to use an “unlawful device in the act of playing.” As long as gamblers don’t “alter the nature of they game,” they aren’t cheating.

It would’ve been interesting to see if the jury would’ve truly seen Conroy and Dancey’s pop-off beads as cheating devices. But this aspect of the prosecution’s argument was iffy to begin with.

Furthermore, Windsor had no laws banning illegal devices at the time. Prosecutors would’ve had to prove that the Hyland team’s exploits fell under the 1974 ruling of R v McGarey.

Items such as magnets, mirrors, and minicomputers are definite cheating devices. A beaded bracelet that’s used to keep track of the count, though, isn’t such a blatant cheating apparatus.

How Does Canada As a Whole Treat Card Counting?

Each province throughout Canada has the right to determine its own gambling laws. One can differ from the next in terms of small gaming matters.

However, all Canadian provinces universally agree that card counting isn’t illegal. They treat this advantage play method the same as other gambling jurisdictions around the world do.

Canada allows gamblers to use skill and even work in teams to win profits. The Great White North has no problem with card counters as long as they don’t try manipulating the game flow in any way.

On the other hand, all Canadian gambling jurisdictions see casinos as private businesses. They afford these establishments the right to deny service to anybody they see fit.

Exceptions include discriminating against customers based on gender, race, or disabilities. Of course, these same rules apply across the board with all Canadian businesses.

Long story short, you can legally count cards in this country. You may even get away with the bead-counting method that the Hyland team used.

But you also need to do a good job of camouflaging your play. Casinos will mostly likely kick you out if they catch you counting.

On a lighter scale, the pit boss may simply limit your maximum bet or ask the dealer to shuffle earlier. Of course, these actions will prevent you from profiting off card counting anyways.

How Do Other Gambling Jurisdictions View Card Counting?

Canada represents the general view of advantage play across the globe. Pretty much every jurisdiction uses the following approach:

• Lets you legally count cards.
• Allows casinos to escort you out or even ban you.
• You’re only breaking the law if you use a device or blatant cheating method (e.g. dealer collusion).

Atlantic City is the lone exception to this approach among major gaming destinations. As per a 1982 ruling in Uston vs Resorts International, Atlantic City casinos can’t discriminate against advantage players.

An AC casino is breaking the law if they throw you out for counting cards. However, they use other means to limit/stop card counting.

Eight-deck shoes, low deck penetration, and even 6:5 natural blackjack payouts crush any chance you have of beating most Atlantic City games. For the most part, though, Canada and other gambling jurisdictions can toss you out even if you’re not counting cards.

Should You Try Counting Cards in Canada?

Las Vegas is generally known as the best place to count cards. But it’s not necessarily any friendlier to advantage players than other gaming destinations.

Instead, Vegas simply offers more opportunities than anywhere else. Over 130 casinos are located in Sin City.

You can go from casino to casino here and quickly leave before you’re recognized—at least, this is the plan anyways.

Canada doesn’t have nearly the concentration of gambling establishments in one place like Vegas does. Of course, no place does.

Nevertheless, you can still find plenty of casinos throughout Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. These provinces are all good places to begin your card counting journey in Canada.

Conclusion

Casino Windsor holds the rare distinction of being one of the small percentages of casinos to try and prosecute card counters. They weren’t successful in their endeavors.

Canada is like most nations in that it doesn’t treat card counting as a crime. Therefore, you might consider visiting the Great White North if you’re looking to beat the casino.

On the other hand, you also need to realize that Canadian casinos reserve the right to boot advantage players. You’ll definitely want to work on your camouflaging techniques before you try counting in Canada.