zengrifter
Banned
Gambling:
The Card Con
Fifteen novice gamblers trusted $2.25 million to their gambling "coach."
But the coach's plan was a scam that would collapse
By Michael Kaplan | CIGAR | July '03
Like all good confidence scams, this one was built on a foundation of greed and gullibility. It promised quick money with limited labor. The stakes were high, but the impending reward was tremendous: $1 million in 90 days. It was presented in black and white, with numbers that appeared mathematically sound. Adding an extra element of allure, the million dollars would be coming out of Las Vegas casinos. But what made this scam truly amazing was something that Carl Ponzi would have killed for: under optimal conditions, in a perfectly honest world, the money-making scheme being dangled really would have worked.
Its clear-cut viability short-circuited all the cynicism and caution from the brain of Tom Hastings (names and some details have been changed), a 45-year-old CPA from Los Angeles, as he read a newspaper ad asking for blackjack players who wanted to win big. A long-term mediocre casino habituÈ who had mastered basic strategy and owned every card-counting guide that the Gambler's Book Club sold, Hastings loved the game and was dying to beat it through what he perceived to be his intellectual superiority. He called an 800 number listed in the ad, spoke with a man on the other end of the line, and arranged to meet with him in a posh hotel suite near The Sunset Strip.
Well into his 60s, tall and skinny, wearing an obvious toupee, Richard Chapman didn't appear to be the kind of person who could make anyone rich. But Hastings was impressed by the digs. He noticed three blackjack tables situated around the living room and a half-dozen bank bags fanned out on an end table. Resembling oversized pencil cases, they appeared to have gotten plenty of use. "Each one can comfortably hold a brick of money," Chapman said in a casual, offhanded way. "You know what a brick is, don't you?"
Hastings shook his head. "It's a pack of 500 $100 bills -- $50,000. Play blackjack with me and you will get used to carrying two of these into every casino you enter."
...more - http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/Gambling-The-Card-Con_8316
The Card Con
Fifteen novice gamblers trusted $2.25 million to their gambling "coach."
But the coach's plan was a scam that would collapse
By Michael Kaplan | CIGAR | July '03
Like all good confidence scams, this one was built on a foundation of greed and gullibility. It promised quick money with limited labor. The stakes were high, but the impending reward was tremendous: $1 million in 90 days. It was presented in black and white, with numbers that appeared mathematically sound. Adding an extra element of allure, the million dollars would be coming out of Las Vegas casinos. But what made this scam truly amazing was something that Carl Ponzi would have killed for: under optimal conditions, in a perfectly honest world, the money-making scheme being dangled really would have worked.
Its clear-cut viability short-circuited all the cynicism and caution from the brain of Tom Hastings (names and some details have been changed), a 45-year-old CPA from Los Angeles, as he read a newspaper ad asking for blackjack players who wanted to win big. A long-term mediocre casino habituÈ who had mastered basic strategy and owned every card-counting guide that the Gambler's Book Club sold, Hastings loved the game and was dying to beat it through what he perceived to be his intellectual superiority. He called an 800 number listed in the ad, spoke with a man on the other end of the line, and arranged to meet with him in a posh hotel suite near The Sunset Strip.
Well into his 60s, tall and skinny, wearing an obvious toupee, Richard Chapman didn't appear to be the kind of person who could make anyone rich. But Hastings was impressed by the digs. He noticed three blackjack tables situated around the living room and a half-dozen bank bags fanned out on an end table. Resembling oversized pencil cases, they appeared to have gotten plenty of use. "Each one can comfortably hold a brick of money," Chapman said in a casual, offhanded way. "You know what a brick is, don't you?"
Hastings shook his head. "It's a pack of 500 $100 bills -- $50,000. Play blackjack with me and you will get used to carrying two of these into every casino you enter."
...more - http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/Gambling-The-Card-Con_8316
