Independent, The (London): Letter: Card counting is legal and skillful

Sir: Your report "Three held over pounds 1.3m Ritz roulette `fraud'" (23 March) fails to differentiate between collusion with a croupier, which is clearly fraudulent, and card counting at blackjack, which is neither fraudulent, illegal nor against the rules.

The basis of blackjack is that, on average, the casino has a 2-3 per cent advantage over the player if - and only if - the player makes plays according to "basic strategy" (the best decision among standing, taking another card, splitting identical cards, or doubling his bet if his two- card total is nine, 10 or 11, all based on the dealer's and the player's cards: there are some 220 permutations). If the player fails to make that best play (which is what virtually every blackjack player I have ever watched does, apart from a handful of experts), the casino's advantage will increase greatly.

By law, all UK casinos must use six decks of cards; the player can decrease the casino's advantage (to the extent whereby the player has an advantage) by estimating whether the cards still to be played from the remainder of the six decks have more or fewer 10-value cards, and then changing his play and the amount he bets accordingly. That estimation is achieved by "card counting". It requires considerable knowledge, skill and discipline. It is certainly not cheating or trickery, and it is not illegal either here or in the US.

There has been considerable court action in the US about both card counting at blackjack and the use of electronic aids at roulette: decisions have been virtually unanimous that card counting is the legitimate deployment of skill and expertise, and the use of electronic aids is fraudulent.

It still doesn't stop US casinos banning or hounding out card counters, and UK casinos have the luxury of requiring every player to be a member and, therefore, the ability to terminate membership if a player deploys his skill and expertise. Which means that our casinos have the ability (via electronic surveillance) to determine who is a skillful player and who is an unskillful player, and the right to ban the skillful ones! That sounds like "cheating and trickery" to me.

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