Three gamblers who used a James Bond-style laser device to win more than a million pounds (R11-million) at a London hotel casino will not face prosecution, as they did nothing illegal, police said on Sunday.
The trio, who pulled off an audacious coup at the Ritz using gadgetry on March 16 to calculate where a roulette ball would land, are to keep their £1,3-million winnings, officers said.
“All three persons that were arrested have been informed that no further action will be taken,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.
“All the money detained by the police has been returned,” he added.
Police had seized the cash and froze bank accounts during a nine-month investigation into the alleged sting.
The gamblers, described by police sources as a “chic and beautiful” Hungarian woman, aged 32, and two “elegant” Serbian men, aged 33 and 38, were alleged to have smuggled into the casino a laser scanner inside a cellphone that was linked to a micro-computer, the British Sunday Times newspaper reported.
The scanner measured the speed of the ball as it was released by the croupier, identified where it fell and measured the declining orbit of the wheel, it added.
The data was beamed to the micro-computer, which calculated on which section of numbers the ball would land. This information was then flashed on to the screen of the cellphone just before the wheel made its third spin, by which time all bets must be placed.
Having reduced their odds of winning from 37-1 to 6-1, the trio placed bets on all six numbers in the section where the ball would definitely end up.
On the first night, they won £100 000, returning the next night to win £1,2-million.
After the casino’s security experts later examined closed-circuit television footage, officers from the Yard’s gaming squad arrested the trio at a nearby hotel on suspicion of obtaining their winnings by deception.
They were given bail, but have now been told they are free to leave Britain.
Legal sources said the gamblers were let off because it was deemed they had not violated any law, since the scanner did not interfere with the ball or wheel, the Sunday Times reported. — AFP