But they didn’t know it was nearly impossible. They were “fishes” allegedly being targeted by the mafia in an elaborate poker gambling scheme that included X-ray card tables, secret cameras, analysers in chip trays and sunglasses and contact lenses that could read their hand.
In what sounds like an Ocean’s Eleven film plot, prosecutors say these “unwitting” victims were cheated out of at least $7m (£5.25) in poker games – with one person losing at least $1.8m (£1.35m).
The scheme, which US prosecutors described as “reminiscent of a Hollywood movie,” was dismantled in a sprawling federal investigation that led to more than 30 arrests, including members of La Costra Nostra crime families, Portland Trail Blazers basketball coach Chauncey Billups and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Damon Jones.
FBI director Kash Patel called it a “mind-boggling” fraud scheme that cheated victims in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and other US cities.
Arrests in the scheme were announced Thursday along with those in an alleged basketball betting plot, where professional NBA players are accused of faking injuries to influence betting odds.The technology was everywhere – an X-ray table that read any face-down card, analysers inside chip trays, a rigged shuffling machine that read cards and predicted who would have the best hand, and pre-marked cards that allowed those wearing special sunglasses and contact lenses to read what was in everyone’s hands.
Secretive cameras – built into tables and light fixtures – also helped convey information to those helping in the plot, authorities say.
Then there was also a sophisticated method of communicating and rigging the game, prosecutors allege.
Information from the game would be sent to an off-site conspirator – called an “operator” by prosecutors – who then would send information to another player sitting at the table who was in on the scheme – which prosecutors call a “quarterback” or “driver”.
