Cheater.

Reading an awesome story yesterday started me thinking about what "cheating" really means in the context of a casino.

For those too lazy to read the article, the gamblers in question won over a million pounds in a UK casino by using a laser sensor mounted on a cell phone to measure the speed and rotation of the ball, and predict its end position, with about 1 in 6 accuracy. They were arrested after the casino inspected video footage, but were let go without any charges being pressed, and allowed to keep their money.

In Nevada casinos, however, this would be illegal, I believe - laws prohibit the use of any computer to aid gambling in casinos, as I understand it. But, is there really anything wrong with what they did? I think it's clear that they're not unfairly altering the outcome of the game in any way, so they're OK on that count.

The concept of gaining access to unfair information is another possible form of cheating. But this one seems hazier to me. If you reach across while a dealer's not looking and peek at the next card in the deck (obviously unrealistic, but hey, this is theory), that's, to me at least, not cool. But what if the dealer is a klutz and flashes it at you by accident? And not just you, but the whole table, every time, so that if you're watching carefully you'll see it? That, as I see it, is much closer to what's happening here. The information about the speed and movement of the ball is available to anyone paying close enough attention, just most don't take advantage of it. Does that make it wrong, however?