Casino equipment, and gambling accessories in general, have come a long way since the first knuckle-bones were rolled a few thousand years ago. With all the electronic gadgets at our disposal it was only a matter of time for some of these gadgets to find their way into casinos. Well, actually, the first high-tech gadgets that found their way into casinos were most likely brought in by casino cheats, with the intention to be used to defraud the casinos. But if casinos want to compete with the cheats, they too have to use high-tech solutions to combat their enemies. And the cat and mouse game continues.
The casino gadget that I want to describe in this thread was not invented to combat any of the numerous gadgets that the cheats have been known to bring into casinos. This gadget was invented to put an end to one of the oldest baccarat scams: switching cards.
Let me introduce you to the Angel Eye electronic baccarat shoe.
If you’ve ever been in a casino in Macau you’ve already seen these shoes in action. These electronic baccarat shoes have already been accepted as the industry standard throughout Asia. Keep in mind that gambling is actually illegal in many Asian countries, so we are strictly talking places where casino gambling is regulated.
Switching cards in baccarat was always very common in Asia. So common, in fact, that casinos were eager for someone to come up with a solution. And baccarat is by far the most popular casino game throughout Asia, so the Asian market was ready for an invention that would make it impossible to get away with switching cards, in baccarat.
Angel, a Japanese manufacturer of playing card and other casino accessories, was the company that first came up with the idea of an electronic baccarat shoe. Not only was Angel the first company to come up with this idea, they also hit the nail right in the head. Other companies followed suit, but in my opinion Angel still makes the best product; partly because they understand the Asian market better than many of their competitors that later came up with their own variations of electronic baccarat shoes.
So, how does this thing work? And what exactly does it do?
In a nutshell, the cards are bar-coded with invisible ink, on the faces. The shoe is fitted with a scanner (similar to the scanner used to read bar codes in a supermarket) that is able to read these invisible bar codes, as the cards are being dealt. This is why this shoe has a longer lip (the front where the cards come out) than conventional dealing shoes.
The shoe is connected to a central computer system. Whenever the dealer deals a card, the scanner reads the value of that card and the shoe sends the information to the computer. In baccarat, unlike blackjack, the players cannot make hit or stand decisions. So, the dealer deals up to one hit card to each one of the two hands, if the rules require that hit cards be dealt. In short, for every round of baccarat, the dealer may deal out 4 to 6 cards. As soon as these cards are dealt out the game is basically over. All the remains to be done is to turn these cards face up and determine which side won (or if it was a tie). However, although there’s nothing that can be done, once the cards are dealt, the players still take their time to turn the cards over. That’s when hearts are beating, blood pressure is rising, and adrenaline is pumping. In Macau, the usual limits for baccarat games (on the floor, not in the VIP rooms) ranges form HK$300,000 to HK$500,000; or, at today’s currency conversion rate, roughly US$39,000 to US$64,500). This is per hand, yes, just to see two damn cards (and maybe be dealt a third one). So, for that amount of money, the player feels entitled to take a couple of seconds before turning the cards over for the world to see.
That is how baccarat is traditionally played in Asia. The expression that comes to mind is “slow-play.”
So, this slow-playing also requires the players to rub the cards (for good luck) ad do all sorts of acrobatics, before the cards are finally revealed. And, of course, when the cards are handled in such way there is plenty of opportunity to do a switch. But if you switch the cards when the Angel Eye shoe is in use, you’re in trouble.
The Angel Eye shoe (well actually the system that uses this shoe) knows what cards have been dealt out of the shoe. After the player(s) show-down their cards the dealer presses a button on the shoe and the result is displayed, electronically, in a number of possible ways (depending on what options the casino purchased form the manufacturer).
The simplest option is a display on the shoe itself, where one of the three lights may light up: either “player,” “banker,” or “tie.” So, if the outcome of the live game is a win for the “banker” side and the shoe says that “player” won, the game is immediately halted and surveillance recordings are reviewed.
In a more elaborate set up there is an LCD screen at the side of the dealer, where the same results are displayed, along with images of actual cards that have been dealt. So, whatever is seen on the screen must match what had just been observed in the live game.
And that’s how the Angel Eye shoe works.
As I’ve already mentioned, other companies have come up with their own versions of electronic baccarat shoes. Some of these are pure copycats, but some companies have actually come up with some of their own innovations, so they basically just built on the Angele Eye idea. I will talk about that in a follow up post.
