Winning big at the casino can come with a number of tax implications and financial decisions, specifically when choosing the best payout method. Typically, winnings are placed in a structured settlement providing consistent payments for a determined period of time.

Most winning blackjack players rely exclusively on, or at least started their playing careers, counting cards. But counting is not enough. A card counter has to be able to get away with it in a casino. That’s what this article is about.

1. All those tired old tropes like the local police being on the take, or that the casino is rigged or that the casino will throw you out for winning too much. Perhaps James Bond is the only film character to enter a movie casino that isn’t run by the mafia or cheating its customers. But do casinos actually care if you’re winning?
2. Yes, casinos can kick you out for any reason, or for no reason. They will not sweat someone winning a couple hundred here or there, though. Especially if it is won on a slot machine.

You probably are trying to win as much money at blackjack as possible. You want to win as much per hour as possible, and you want to keep open the option of playing more hours.

One thing that is important is to develop your own style. Be a one of a kind. This forces casino bosses to figure out what you are doing by watching you in action, which gives you more playing time than if they know what you are doing before you win your first bet.

Every casino has employees who know that blackjack can be beaten, but few casino employees actually know how to beat the game. Playing blackjack is like a war in which the casino employees are the enemy, while you are a spy behind enemy lines who must hide your true identity at all times. Some of the enemy are on the lookout for card counters. They think that they know what a card counter looks like: The garden-variety card counter wins and does so with varying bet sizes. A person who exhibits this behavior is observed intently.

When casino personnel are positive that they have spot ted a card counter, they will take an action to your disadvantage, such as ordering the dealer to shuffle more often than normal.

Of course you must hide your ability. Do not look like you are counting cards. Do not look like you are trying to recall a number from a table. Do not carry any written tables with you. In many jurisdictions, most notably Nevada, you may be barred from play if you are identified as a proficient player. Elsewhere you might find the shuffle point moved up on you. Some casino employees become belligerent, abusive and may even physically harm you. Yes, casino patron abuse still occurs. Some employees might wrongfully accuse you of cheating!

Bet size makes little difference. A $25 bettor who is recognized as a card counter will be subjected to countermeasures, while the careful $100 bettor can continue to play indefinitely.

Keep the dealers and pit critters ignorant of your ability and they will be happy. Never, never let on that you are playing any sort of a winning method. You will be asked in a conversational way if you count cards or have read any books on blackjack. Do not admit to anyone that you are counting cards. (You might pretend that you think counting means adding the indexes to find the hand total.) Do not admit to having understood any book on blackjack. You can act stupid, lucky, un lucky, drunk, sleepy, or whatever, but do not act like you know that you are playing a winning method or you will find the welcome mat withdrawn.

Casino personnel notice small bettors who are big winners and big bettors whether they win or lose. This exposure is unavoidable but relatively harmless because many gamblers bet big and many gamblers have winning streaks. Casino owners who are inhospitable to all winners and big bettors lose more by turning away gamblers than they gain by turning away professional blackjack players.

Except for winning more often than losing, you must look like a gambler if you want to preserve your potential for income from playing blackjack. A gambler who plays blackjack daily for week after week eventually runs out of money. If you play daily in the same casino for week after week, you will eventually lose your credibility in that casino. If you want to play fifteen hours per month in one casino, it will look more natural to cram all of those hours into a two-day period than to play thirty minutes every day for thirty consecutive days. Try to spread your playing among all three shifts -- casino staff put in eight hours a day just like most other working people.

Excerpted with permission from the e-book version of Professional Blackjack by Stanford Wong.

Please log in or register to leave a comment

Will A Casino Kick You Out For Winning Money

Casinos are a place to unwind, have fun, and try to walk away with a few extra dollars in your pocket. Despite their reputation for being a party destination, there are more than a few rules that patrons must abide by, or they’ll risk getting kicked out.

For those visiting a casino for the first time, knowing all the regulations might be a challenge. In this article, I’ll lay out the behaviors that can get you thrown out by casino staff, and only a couple have anything to do with the games themselves.

Will A Casino Kick You Out For Winning Poker

1 – Being Underage

Since the dawn of time, 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds have been using a wide range of tricks to get into bars and clubs where the required age is 21 and older. This has become somewhat of a rite of passage into adulthood, and most individuals will withhold judgement (hey, most of us have been there, too).

Unfortunately, land based casinos are one of the places where these deceitful tactics are frowned upon to the highest degree. Regardless of whether you’re using a fake ID, someone else’s ID, or any other form of false identification, getting kicked out is going to be the least of your worries.

With all the technology that casinos utilize to ensure nothing slips past their radar, it’s at the top of the list in terms of the worst places to use a fake ID. My advice? Stick to the local bars in your town. If you get caught there, nine times out of ten, they’ll just ask you to leave.

Risk is always inherent when you enter the casino walls, but taking this risk will never be worth it.

2 – Using Your Phone at a Table Game (And Sometimes at Slots)

This one might seem obvious, but there are plenty of folks out there who just don’t think twice about reaching for their smartphone, no matter the surroundings. In a casino, this is a major no-no and can result in you getting tossed out.

The issue of cheating in casinos comes to mind when you think of why a phone wouldn’t be allowed. Taking a picture or doing research on the moves you should be making can all be done from your mobile device, and it would be considered illegal at any casino. However, there is another, less obvious reason why you need to leave your phone in your pocket: It can be used to check the time.

Casinos famously don’t display clocks, at least in any clearly visible location. The philosophy is that when you realize how much time you’ve spent gambling, you’re more likely to walk away, which is not what the casino wants. If you want to know the time, it’s on you to wear a watch.

Another interesting reason that any phone use is frowned upon is that they can be used to manipulate slot machines. Some casino swindlers figured out a way to turn their mobile phone into a bill validator device. The device was able to make slots recognize any bill, even $1, as a $100 bill. Don’t believe it’s possible? Scammers in France used it to take $88,000 from a casino.

In today’s world, most people have their phone attached to their hand seemingly at all times. The next time you visit the casino, try to keep it in your pocket. Casino staff do use common sense and won’t punish you for checking scores or taking a phone call. But if you’re actively playing a game, don’t put them in a position where they have to be suspicious of your activity.

3 – Card Counting If You Get Caught

Few tricks have gained traction in popular casino culture like card counting. If you aren’t familiar with the term, card counting involves a number system that allows players to get a better feel for what the next cards will be in games like blackjack.

If you have heard the term before, it may have been from a number of popular movies who show “geniuses” mastering the trick and winning boatloads of money. What you might not know is that it really isn’t all that complicated to learn. Even more surprisingly, it isn’t illegal either.

Mastering card counting does take quite a bit of practice, both in your home and during actual games. Because it all takes place in your head, it’s difficult for casino staff to know when you’re using the technique, but they have been known to figure it out if you give it away.

For example, when you go against basic, common-knowledge strategies, it can tip off pit bosses that something might be up. If a casino employee notices a pattern of this type of play, he or she may come up and talk with you in a friendly way in order to judge your reaction when your concentration is broken.

The real question is, if card counting isn’t illegal, why will it get you thrown out? The answer is simply that casinos reserve the right to remove you for any conduct they deem to be inappropriate. At the end of the day, “house rules” are a real thing.

If you want to learn how to card count, I would encourage you to try. It’s a good mental exercise and can be beneficial to your gambling strategy. Just know that you won’t be tipping the scales heavily in your favor. Even the best card counters can only expect to raise their winning percentages by 1% or 2% in the long run.

4 – Poker Collusion

Real money poker players are always looking for ways to manipulate the game. Because the competition is between other players and not against the house like in most other games, there is room for new tactics that won’t work anywhere else.

One of the main ways that poker players cheat is through collusion. This means that two or more players work together in order to get the rest of the table out, then split up the winnings. Because there is so much going on at a poker table, it can be difficult to spot when this is taking place.

So, how do dealers or other casino staff members know when two “strangers” might actually be in cahoots? There are a few known giveaways that inexperienced colluders might display.

First, if the same two players at the table seem to be winning every single big pot, it might be a sign that something is off. Of course it could just be due to chance, but over the course of a couple hours, it becomes more obvious when the winnings are always ending up with the same duo.

Second, this form of cheating might be recognized if two players are raising and re-raising each other, hoping to catch some unfortunate players in the middle of the action. Finally, one more giveaway might be when a player doesn’t bet when it would be normal to do so. This would be an indication that the player knows he isn’t going to win, because the other player has good cards and will win the hand.

If you’re caught in the act, or even after the fact, the house will come down on you pretty hard. My advice? It’s not worth the risk and doesn’t guarantee you’ll win.

Conclusion

I could go on for much longer and include a dozen more behaviors that will get you booted from just about any casino, but these are just a few casino etiquette tips to remember.

Casinos want you to have a good time, and they don’t want to throw you out. However, if they recognize you’re manipulating the games, to them, it’s a form of stealing. No matter how tricky or discreet you think you can be, just play honestly and let the chips fall where they may.