Legalized Card Counting

I recently wrote that card counters can be barred from playing in Vegas. Anywhere in Nevada, actually. And if you don’t move you’ll be arrested for trespassing.

Ken Uston was involved in a court case with an Atlantic City casino that required New Jersey not bar anyone for their skill. (In Nevada, you can actually be barred for merely winning.)

Looking around I don’t think that there are other legal restrictions in the United States regarding card counting. New Zealand as well (though it seems that Australia may have the ability….I’m not entirely clear). Illinois definitely does not have the ability to prevent counters from playing. Louisiana is slightly different and it allows the casino to bar based on age if soemone is between 18 and 21; you could make the case that casinos hide behind the age if a particularly good player over 18 but under 21 shows up.

Otherwise there are no legal standards to which a casino may apply to bar a counter outside of Nevada. At least none that I could find. Casinos are obviously free to employ measures to make it uncomfortable for a counter to play, such as restricting bet size at a table, early shuffling, slowing play, rapid dealer changes, etc.

So come meet me at a casino outside Nevada and we’ll spread the bet size to our heart’s content.