Originally Posted by
AxelWolf
Originally Posted by
kewlJ
No I did not. First it was years ago now. Second, it is illegal or at least was at the time for a private person to purchase and possess these machines. And difficult to get into the country once you did. I am not going to snap a picture and post it of something illegal that I did.
Illegal how? Why do you believe that? I haven't any clue if true, but I would assume if true, that would have had to have been specifically added to the law just for that device. Or are you saying there was a law on the books that covered shuffle machines? Can you point to a gaming statute that covers this?
Axelwolf, I have explained this before, but will do so again for your benefit. When the incident at El Cortez went down with the ASM that was clumping cards, I spent hours and hours tracking 100's of shoes, both playing (flat betting) and just standing behind the table watching until I was certain what was going on.
But I wanted to absolutely prove it for my own benefit. So I attempted to purchase one of these machines and couldn't find one. My brother found places on the internet that I never dreamed of and we found several of these machines for sale in another part of the world that had been used in casinos. But none would ship to a U.S. address. They said they couldn't. So I had it shipped to a friend in Canada, who drove it across the border and then shipped it to me.
The company did not sell these machines to anyone, even casinos (at the time). They were all leased. So the company maintained ownership at all times. Anyone who got their hands on one did so illegally.
After I was done seeing what I wanted to see, I passed it on to an AP friend here in Vegas, who paid me what I paid, so I recouped my cost. He had been trying to get his hands on one for a while and took it all apart, looking for and finding things he could exploit. In talking to him, not too long ago, he sort of indicated that it isn't as hard now to get a hold of one, as it used to be, so maybe something has changed. But just a few years ago, the company was very protective of the machines and did everything they could to keep them away from people like us.
Funny thing about that whole incident, the whole ASM incident, not just acquiring the machine. Once I had absolutely proven to myself, I went on two forums, WoV and Norm's blackjack forum to warn people. And I immediately became the bad guy, with people like AinQ and many others attacking me. You would have thought I was scamming or trying to sell something, rather than just warning people based on my experience. But that is the nature of these forums.