The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that casinos have been warned over the use of a card counting application for the iPhone. A quick search on the iTunes App Store revealed that there are currently two such programs available that seek to teach users how to count cards, and allows them to virtually practice their craft. It’s unclear, however, how an individual could use such a program out in the open on a casino floor without getting into a world of trouble.
According to TUAW, there have yet to be any reports of gamblers being kicked out for using such a program, but initial warnings were issued by California authorities who “who spotted card-counter apps in use at a Northern California casino and thought it prudent to raise the alarm.”
Unless I’m missing something here, this seems to be much ado about nothing. Practicing counting cards isn’t illegal, and one could just as easily bring in an instructional book on the same topic. Sure, practicing on an iPhone is much more convenient, but again, who in their right minds would ever think of using such a program on the casino floor? If you’re that dumb, you deserve to get caught.
Lastly, this adds a whole new meaning to the term ‘iPhone Gaming’. Thank you, thank you.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Possibly the developer did not release it in the App Store. He may have distributed it only to his iPhone and possibly a few others (Apple kindly allows you to distibute your app to a handful of iPhones for testing).