How Tommy Highland beat casinos in Canada and other cities

Tommy's love of gambling began as a child when his father took him to the races, where he enjoyed betting. As a teenager, he began playing a kind of blackjack at school, but with coins. Already there he began winning the pocket money of his classmates, and as a result, he felt the strength and desire to earn in this way.

A little later he turned into an actual bookie of the school, who accepted bets on various sports events in physical education classes. However, this business did not work out for Tommy: due to a lack of experience in determining odds, he lost about $500, which he had to reimburse to betting participants.

Introduction to blackjack

Tommy began playing card games in college, and at first, it was poker. He liked this game but found it too complicated and slow, so he switched to billiards and golf from time to time.

Things weren't going too well in gambling, so Tommy quickly got into debt and started looking for ways to pay it back the easy way.

A friend advised him to play blackjack and read some books on the subject, which helped him a lot to understand the game at first. Tommy would even go to Atlantic City for a few days to play blackjack at a local casino to gain experience.

The first games were unsuccessful for him, as he didn't know how to count cards and acted on his intuition. Later he decided to join forces with some friends and count cards together, increasing the chances of winning.

Going to Atlantic City for a few days, the company made $6,000 without any experience in interacting with each other at the table. Then the guys realized they had found a gold mine.

Creating a Team

Tommy took a break to think things through and create a quality team that could make money regularly. It was decided to chip in $4,000 each to have a better chance of winning with a large sum of money.

The dream team would gather at the casino every day at 8:00 p.m. and spend the game until the place closed. After the game was over, the guys would gather at one of their apartments and share the winnings.

Over time, regular casino patrons began to notice the professional team's success, and some even tried to join them. One guy, in particular, was stubborn and followed Tommy around for a week, trying to prove his professionalism, which would definitely come in handy in their syndicate.

After much persuasion, he was accepted into the team for a few test games but quickly left, believing he could win on his own.

How the casinos fought the accountants

Obviously, the casinos themselves were not thrilled with the fact that several people were making money on them on a regular basis. That said, Tommy's team tried not to play in one place but to move between cities and multiple casinos to remain undetected.

By that time, Tommy's team was already using computers to count cards. Small devices were hidden in their shoes, and with four buttons, players could enter the cards on the table into it so that the computer would eventually produce the most likely subsequent cards.

Shortly thereafter, the state of Nevada banned the use of computers and other technology in casino gaming. Tommy had to go to lawyers to find out which states allowed him to do this legally. After a little research into the law, it became clear that some states in America allowed the use of such devices.

But even in those casinos where the use of computers was allowed, the dream team was not welcome, so as a result, the players had to move to the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands, where they were not yet known.

Arrest

While one might think such an outcome was imminent, Tommy himself had not anticipated such a development. While playing at a casino, security called the police, forced the players to pull up their pants, and found a computer underneath.

The entire team was threatened with criminal charges and even sued, resulting in Tommy facing up to 10 years in prison. He had to leave $70,000 for the state to get probation, and his lawyer demanded another $15,000.

From that point on, the team never played in the Bahamas again.

Canada

After failing in the Bahamas, the players decided to go to Canada, where there were several large casinos where they were not yet known.

The casino owners, and indeed the city of Winsor, quickly realized who they were dealing with, so they decided to set a precedent for dealing with professional gamblers.

The police detained Tommy and his crew for three days. At the same time, all the Canadian newspapers wrote about the detention of the cheaters in order to heat up the public, which suddenly took the side of the detainees. As a result, all had to be released because it was proved in court that the accused were not crooks but used an authorized strategy.

In the early 90s, Tommy's Team completely disintegrated, having existed for almost 20 years. Interestingly, such projects usually break up much earlier due to mistrust in each other, but this time was different. Perhaps that's why this story has come down to this day.