From Casinos to Counterterrorism

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A Role Model in Sin City
Las Vegas is attracting more than gamblers as federal authoritities closely study the modern surveillance techniques casinos use to monitor their players.

But for David Richardson, a real estate inspector from in Upstate New York, the data gathering crossed a line. "They have no right to get in your shorts," he said, strolling between casinos. "It's all about gathering personal information, which I'm not so crazy about the government knowing. It's none of their business."

Below the Radar

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Despite all the high-tech gizmos, some casino targets still slip through.

On a Sunday afternoon, Mike Aponte slides onto a stool at a blackjack table in a medium-size casino on the Strip and lays $300 on the felt. Aponte draws little notice in a town filled with droves of other Asian gamblers.

Both the dealer and floor manager urge him to sign up for a player's card. He demurs. Within 15 minutes, he's up by $700.

At one point, Aponte has a 12, with the dealer showing a 3. Basic strategy dictates that Aponte should take another card. But he has been counting and knows mostly high cards are left, so he has a good chance of busting. He stands, the dealer busts and he wins the hand.

An hour and 15 minutes later, Aponte cashes in, $500 richer.

No one realizes it at this casino, but Aponte is a veteran of the card-counting team of math whizzes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The team reportedly took more than $10 million from casinos in its heyday from 1994 to 2000.

Aponte has been barred from more than 100 casinos in the United States and a few overseas. In St. Kitts, he said, he was recognized by a Biometrica database, and now he avoids the biggest, most modern casinos.

The team's No. 1 downfall, he said, was information sharing. Once the members' faces began showing up in databases, their days were numbered.