Sunday Mail - Queensland March 18, 1990

Casinos throughout Australia are on alert for a secret computer which could let any gambler win a fortune and send the casinos broke. The surveillance manager at Sheraton Breakwater Casino Hotel in Townsville, Mr Ken Harrison, has sent a confidential memo to all casino security managers, warning about the computer.
Called the Scorpion, the high-tech "magic box" lets a complete novice consistently win at blackjack without being detected.

A similar device was used a year ago by a pair of high-rolling Austrian gamblers to win more than $190,000 at Wrest Point in Tasmania. Because there are no laws covering the use of the computer, the pair were not charged with any offence.

Security staff at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast will be on alert during next weekend's $100,000 War of Nerves blackjack tournament.

Ironically, the Scorpion was developed by Surveillance Technology of Perth after an approach from WA's Burswood Resort Casino for a device to detect card-counting computers. The company first had to develop a computer for field tests but when the casino would not contribute to $100,000 development costs, Surveillance Technology decided to market its device.

"Having spent all your time dealing with security matters, it is strange to come at it from the other side," company owner Mr Michael Barnett said yesterday from Perth. He said the computer, which will be sold for about $5000, was aimed at the high rollers who were prepared to bet solidly for a number of hours with high stakes. "However, it is still possible to bet with more moderate stakes and come out ahead." "Tests over tens of thousands of hands indicate an advantage of 2 percent or better." He said that percentage level was enough to take blackjack out of casinos because it would no longer be viable.

He said the Scorpion was not a cheating device; it predicted the outcome of a game but it did not affect the outcome. The device silently instructs the player every move and advises when conditions are not favourable.

The warning memo from Townsville says Mr Barnett is technically knowledgeable to do all he says, or to instruct some other person to develop his ideas. It says he is "obviously a man who can be extremely dangerous to our industry, especially with the law only providing a barring and confiscation for persons using such a device." A report included in the memo says detection of the computer would be extremely difficult and jamming virtually impossible.

The security manager at Wrest Point Federal Casino, Ms Marion Hayes, said she was aware of the Scorpion and at present there was no legislation to stop anyone using it. However, anyone caught using the device would be asked to leave the casino and could be required to pay back a portion of winnings.

While using the computer on the casino floor can attract attention and result in the user being removed, Mr Barnett believes he may have come up with the answer. The computer also can be used from a hotel room or the car park with radio signals going through the computer. The operating team would include three people: one at the table, an onlooker who would relay the sequence of cards through a push-button device the size of a 20c coin, and a person nearby operating the computer. The computer information would be instantly relayed back to the table player by means of a vibrating system attached to the upper arm.

Mr Barnett now is excited about a new device for roulette. "The device can give a correct forecast down to three numbers on the wheel," Mr Barnett said. It has been built to be used on a Huxley roulette wheel, used widely in Australian casinos, based on the timing of the ball and the wheel spin. The player enters the time it takes for the ball and the wheel to spin, the device can then estimate to within a three-number area where the ball will drop.