Sunday Times – Perth March 18, 1990

An electronic device said to help gamblers win at blackjack has been banned by casinos throughout Australia. The gadget, called Scorpion, is on sale in Perth. Models range from $1500 to $5000. They use electronic impulses to count cards. Gamblers caught with one in a casino will be evicted and prosecuted.

Burswood Casino yesterday refused to allow the device to be tested at its gaming tables. However, the Sunday Times organized a dummy game. A former owner of one of Perth’s biggest illegal casinos agreed to take part but was adamant the device would not work. He said that during his years in the gambling industry, he heard countless claims about improving players’ chances, and added: “I always ended up with the money.”

A number of expert blackjack players were recruited for yesterday’s test and each agreed the device definitely improved players’ winning chances. The device is a microcomputer that has been programmed by a young Perth computer operator and is being sold by Inglewood surveillance expert Michael Barnett. Mr Barnett has done debugging work for former Rothwells chief Laurie Connell.

The device’s counting buttons are mounted on a small belt and can be strapped to a leg or put in a player’s pocket. Signals are received from a radio that transmits to a vibrator hidden on a player’s body. It functions best if two players work together.

Card counting improves players’ chances because it indicates how many high and low cards are still in a blackjack shoe. As cards are played, the microcomputer’s memory stores information and alters each set of signals. Casinos regard card counting as cheating.

Mr Barnett developed the device he calls the Scorpion after Burswood Casino contracted him to help detect a less sophisticated computer known to have been brought into Australia from the US last year. He said he developed it because he knew such a device would ultimately be made and marketed and it was in the casino industry’s interest to have the prototype. But efforts to secure a contract with several Australian casinos led to a request for it to be banned.

Two confidential casino industry memos acquired by Mr Barnett show the Scorpion has caused concern at the highest levels of the industry. One, signed by Queensland’s Breakwater Casino surveillance manager, Mr Ken Harrison, says Mr Barnett “is technically knowledgeable to do all he says he can do, or instruct some other person to develop his ideas.” “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 in a casino in certain States.”

The memo has been sent to the head of security at Genting Resorts around the world, Mr Joe Calabrese. It reveals Mr Harrison interviewed Mr Barnett before Christmas. “One of the disturbing remarks he made was that the Scorpion can be used from a hotel room with radio signals going through the computer,” it says.
“He also informed us that he could develop the Scorpion by using infra-red, microwave or magnetic systems, and more disturbing, that he has the ability to operate the device with frequency agility. “He confirmed to us that he has developed a device for roulette which he claims to have down to a correct forecast between six numbers on the wheel.” A second memo, signed by Mr Garth Schmidt, a Queensland security expert, reveals that a major security problem existed at Burswood. “He (Barnett) maintains that his units had been modified to operate outside of present detection scanner parameters.” The memo says.