First, allow us to state the obvious: Counting cards isn’t cheating. With the way it’s portrayed in the movie, however, it can be argued that the moviemakers aren’t quite sure of that fact, especially since in the movie the count is always at least +15 and the team’s Big Player never loses a hand, except during the one brief moment in time that he’s drinking and goes on tilt. In the movie, the blackjack team is so efficient and wins so much money (and seems so shady in its portrayal) that one is left with an impression of card counting being so successful it might be the equivalent of cheating.
But that’s an answer for another question. The answer to this question is yes, casinos have been caught cheating customers. But that was a generation ago at places called "bust-out joints." These crooked casinos had one mission and one mission only: Get every last penny from every last customer and do it any way it could be done, with no regard to the laws of God or man.
Back then, casinos had a "pro" or "mechanic" on duty during each shift who could manipulate any given game at will -- and do it with a smile on their faces. These casinos became known as "flat" stores. Sometimes they were in competition with one another, though not for customers; rather, they competed for dealers. Good mechanics were hard to find, but they did ply their trade in the good-old bad-old days.
Stories abound about players sitting down at a game and never winning a hand. It worked in the other direction as well; for various reasons (the dealer and player were in cahoots; the casino wanted to pay off a vendor or investor with untraceable cash; the mechanic felt like showering a newlywed couple, for example, with "beginner’s luck," etc.), some players couldn’t lose. A number of joints were so flat, even the soda was mixed with water, instead of carbonation.
Today, it’s a different story altogether. It’s easier to get a date with Angelina Jolie than it is to get a gambling license. If you’re lucky and clean enough to get one (which often takes a year and you pick up all the investigation expenses), the fun’s only starting.
Now you need a crack in-house audit department that examines a certain number of games per day to verify they’re in compliance with all the corporate policies and procedures. Then you need a reputable outside company like Arthur Anderson to audit your auditors and verify your compliance with all the local, state, and federal rules and regulations. On top of that, you have a surveillance department that watches everyone and everything, from the janitors to the auditors; a security force that maintains order; outside secret shoppers and game detectives, along with Gaming Control agents and regulators, looking for the slightest abnormality in the casino; and a system of bosses, supervisors, managers, and the like that’s almost military in its rigid top-down chain of command.
So, with everyone watching everyone else, anyone, from the casino owner to the break-in dealer, would have to be crazy to even think about cheating. Not that it doesn’t happen, and we hear from time to time about a dealer, or a group of dealers, or a tech working at a gaming manufacturing company or a regulatory agency taking a shot and, almost always, getting caught. But on an institutional level, it’s practically unthinkable that any higher-up would or could order a subordinate to cheat on behalf of the casino.
