Anyone who has tried card counting in a casino before and been caught will have learnt the hard way that being kicked out of a casino is a risk for players who attempt to beat casino games! Players have been trying to out-with the casino since the beginning and Las Vegas has a “black book” of players who have been banned from the casinos in Las Vegas for various crimes and misdemeanours in the eyes of the casino, from card counting to more serious criminal and mob-related activities – visit online lottery site.
On this blacklist, players are not only banned from the casino they were playing in, but they are also banned altogether from any casino in the state of Nevada, cutting them off completely from the gambling industry in the state.
The mysterious blacklist of Las Vegas has an official name, the Nevada Gaming Control Board Excluded Person List. The mysterious book dates back to the 60s and although back then it was a physical black book, thanks to technology it’s no longer a book in the physical sense. Inside it’s “pages” you would find a whole host of criminals which have been blacklisted from casinos in the state of Nevada, including casino cheats, con-artists as well as members of the mob.
The black book was invented in order to persuade the American Congress that the Nevada Gaming Control Board was more than capable of policing the state of Nevada itself without outside intervention and to prove they had a system to keep criminals away from the casino floors!
The original blacklist had just 11 names on it and most of these individuals were mob members and you can even see a copy of the early black book as it is on display in the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. There is now a total of 35 members in the black book and its newest additions include Anthony Grant Granito and James Russell Cooper who were banned for being scam artists. The pair connect the Bellagio out of $1.2m before being convicted and added to the blacklist in 2018.
Not all casino cheats are in the black book, most small-time crooks are simply prosecuted and banned from the casino where they were caught and it takes a lot for players to be added to the notorious black look. But once you’re in, you generally stay there and the only way off the blacklist is by kicking the bucket, which was the case for the former LA mob boss Louis Thomas Dragna who was added to the blacklist and only removed when he passed away in 2012 at the age of 92.
So, before you worry too much about getting caught counting cards, it is highly unlikely you’ll be added to the famous blacklist for this as card counting isn’t technically illegal. Although casinos certainly don’t like it as it puts them at a disadvantage and you will more than likely be asked to leave the casino and may not be welcomed back into the establishment anytime soon!
