Everyone knows the casinos don't like to lose , driven by greed is how they're designed but recently they've been losing big over and over . until the same guy he looks nothing like a high roller no slick limo no tailored Armani suit no flashy jewelry just a friendly middle-aged guy with a dad bod a baseball cap and an Oregon State . hoodie it's a smash and grab his strategy has won in millions of dollars but no one ever saw it , coming overnight he's become Legend a myth a hero to every Gambler who dreams big Spectators watch . on as he bets $100,000 per hand who is he and how is he beating the casino the casinos know him well . but he's not on their list of Sharps to them he's known as a mediocre player who makes moderate bets , and he's not counting cards either there's always a betting pattern when that happens and this guy . is clean in fact there are no red flags at all the casinos are confused how could this streak happen it's one man versus the casinos and they'll do whatever they can to stop him if they work out his secret loophole it's game over to start uncovering those though we need to go back 8 years to a time . when life was very different it's 2003 our man is 40 years old way back he had a career as a jockey , and that was quite a buzz but he's a big guy 6'1 and after a while stay in light became hard work . so he found himself in a 9-5 at Philadelphia Park racetrack got promoted and then became state . regulator for Oregon Idaho Texas and Wyoming his job is to ensure fair play in horse racing and , the betting around it and that's where he is now the job is fine but truth be told a bit dull . surrounded by the thrill of gambling every day he can't help but feel a spark of curiosity he's never been a big better because it doesn't fit well with his job but the Allure is undeniable he wants that buzz back in his life and you only live once so he makes a crazy decision to pack . it all in and become a professional gambler but this is no hit and hope hobby he sets up a company called Heritage development and uses sophisticated programs to repeatedly scrape value odds from , racing little did he know this expertise would lead him to uncover a loophole that the casinos never saw coming you see with his spending money he likes to unwind playing blackjack in the casino , and this is where the real action begins to kick off the aim of Blackjack is to build a hand as close as possible to 21 and better than the dealer without going over the dealer has one card face up , and one card face down players are dealt two cards then they have the choice to hit or stand face . cards are worth 10 AC's one or 11 once all players have stood or gone bust the dealer is able to . take further cards any player who beats the dealer without busting wins the game has some of the best . odds a casino offers but when you consider it's a 50/50 choice you soon realize they're not so good good you see the rules are tweaked in their favor to give the house an edge for example in blackjack , the dealer plays last so they already know what hand they need to beat typically he gives the casino a 1 to 1.5% advantage to them it's just business unless a player has a fixed advantage of , course and then they call it cheating now Don has never been a high roller $25 bets have always been his limit but gradually now he's his own boss and making good money he moves to $50 bets and then , $100 and while bets are going up Casino profits are going down because post 9/11 the economy has dipped for everyone with many Americans reluctant to fly and a lot of Asian money leaving the , country resorts in Las Vegas Atlantic City and New Jersey are hit the hardest and then on September , 29th 2008 Dow Jones crashes over 700 points it's a crippling blow for American investors but for . Don is just the beginning of a massive opportunity because he has a plan a plan that would exploit a , loophole the casinos never saw com in I think this is the most significant financial crisis in the . postwar period there are fears the cell off will continue on Wall Street hard times don't always favor the house and while the banks collapse the casinos look set to follow because this crash couldn't have come at a worst time with revenues falling and big players slowing down the biggest Resorts have doubled down on investment colossal refits and brand new casinos are popping up the . house is attempting to to spend their way out of trouble and now they're in it deep even Las Vegas , struggles as Jim Muran CEO of MGM Resort says this used to be a place where gamblers go on vacation . and now it's a place where vacationers may or may not gamble but with the Vegas conventions business . and year round Sun there's always enough people coming through the door to make bad financial , decisions in Atlantic City though the slump really bites with empty parking lots and run down shop fronts crime rates are amongst the highest in America 16 New Vegas linked local casinos have , sprung up outside the city stealing even more of its custom Revenue Falls from $5.2 billion to 3.3 billion in just 18 months and even Don notices the number of big high stakes players the Whales operating in a whole different League to him have dropped off a cliff and this matters some casinos , rely on high rollers for as much as 25% of their trade so to get them back in the casinos begin , offering re bets and massive Hospitality packages and of course this isn't unusual but they are being unusually generous right now suddenly Don realizes something the casinos of Atlantic City are vulnerable and where there's vulnerability there's opportunity their greed is making them

blind to potential loopholes in order to exploit them he needs a strategy a strategy that will , ultimately flip the casino's greed on his head to hook in the Whales the casinos offer endless champagne free luxury suets even private jets they're selling lifestyle and escape from reality they aim to distract these Big Spenders get them through the door and then take more money off of them than those gimmicks actually cost but Don's only interested in the odds he's not a showy guy . he doesn't care about these perks but when they start offering these Whales free bets to the tune of $50,000 he starts to pay more attention but he faces a challenge to get those fre bets he'll . need an invitation to the top table and that's not where the casinos see him so he starts to lay . the groundwork showing his face at Atlantic City's three biggest Resorts the Borgata Caesars and . Tropicana he's placing bigger and bigger bets all the time first he starts at $1,000 and once he's . firmly got their attention $5,000 while they're getting to know him he's also laying some more , foundations with a series of top secret meetings meetings which pave the way for one of the biggest betting spr in Casino history and then finally it's time to start the conversation to make his , move in the end though he doesn't have to because it's late 2010 and they call him for casinos like , the Tropicana Don fits their plans perfectly they know him as a mediocre player who's willing to . bet more he's less a whale and more a big fish and whilst they're confident he'll make their money . if they do lose out it won't be disastrous they're ready to reel him in when they start talking he , looks even better he's not even interested in those pricey perks they normally have to offer which makes him in the words of Tropicana on a boss Tonyo a cheap date he won't cost anything up , front because he just wants to talk about terms of play Don starts with the basics he asked for the $50,000 in free bets they agree plus a discount losses also known as rebates rebates are when . a casino gives back a percentage of any losses they're designed to encourage you to bet more so that when you lose and the casino lines its pockets they soften the blow by giving you some of your money back by late 2010 rebates and discounts at the Bata were as high as 20% numbers even Don has never seen before not even for a player like krie Packer who came in with a $20 million bank and was worth billions and billions so that's what he wants this discount is only for the really big . Spenders though it doesn't kick in until you've lost $500,000 now he might not see this benefit so they don't mind that he also requests several small tweaks that the rules one the dealer must . stand on a soft 17 so if the dealer gets an Ace and a six they have have to stand and can't take another card two if a player is dealt two of a kind of any value they can double their bear , whereas you can normally only do that on a nine or above and three if a player is dealt Two of a Kind they can split hands up to four times playing each of the cards as a separate hand Don even ask . to use certain hand signals ones which he prefers which if the dealer misses means the hand is free , the requests are a little odd but the Tropicana are not worried they just can't help help their own greed the terms added to an agreement and emailed across to Dawn the Bata and Caesars want . in too as far as they're concerned they've just harpooned a small whale meanwhile he's ready to . play December 2010 first stop the Tropicana Don walks in he's been planning this for a year he . doesn't know how the following days and months are going to play out but it's going to be fun for , him at least if not the cinos of course it could all go terribly wrong but he's ready there's . no Fanfare when he arrives he doesn't make a splash with what he wears or what he orders orange juice and water inside he's totally calm outside he's about to cause chaos whilst the casinos look . to distract high rollers with pretty girls perks and all of the fun and good life Don's plan is to turn the tables and distract them so they won't spot what's really going on not until it's . too late and the best way to distract them is by doing the most unexpected thing possible so that's . what he does by betting big from the off acceler in quickly to $100,000 bets after several hours of , play Don's down but all the time he's looking for a moment and then it comes the House's hand shows . an upturn five Dom bets $100,000 and is dealt 28 16 not ideal at all but as it's been agreed he can . split the two of the kind so he does asking for two more cards and double in his bet surprisingly out come two more hates which he also splits that's four cards in a row of the same number and . Don's now playing Four Hands each consisting of a single a card there's $100,000 behind each it's . been a long day and when a scantly clad waitress now arrives with a whiskey and Coke he takes it . but Don is calm focused he's here to win overall these are just individual hands to be played one . by one nice and steady each on their own Merit on his first hand he's dealt three doubling his bet to $200,000 on his second hand he's dealt with two so he doubles down on that two when he's dealt , with three and two again on his next two hands he doubles down again for total wager of $800,000 , now it's the Dealer's turn playing for the house and he's in Uncharted Territory this is huge the pressure is on and he's flustered all day with the complex hand signals the huge bets he draws a 10 plus five puts the house on 15 terrible he has to go again another 10 and is bust Don wins all ,

four hands and gets $800,000 in chips 12 hours later Don is up nearly $6 million he has every chip in the tray and the Tropicana pulls the plug the deal is off at least until they can work out , what's happening the next day the headlines say it all blackjack player takes Tropicana for nearly $6 million single-handedly ruins casino's month the Tropicana are confused this shouldn't happen , CEO Gary rodo explains why once a player comes in regardless of the game they may play we plug them , into the model so we know what the house advantage is based upon the game that they are playing and the way they play the game players can get lucky and over time you just keep them playing and . they'll finish down but da scaring them thanks to the secret meetings that they don't know about he's winning when he shouldn't be how they need to work it out meanwhile in February 2011 Don heads to the Bata while out on the boardwalk no one knows know the identity of this shy winner they . do and they're desperate to get him through the door big Winners attract more players and besides , someone has to take all that money he's one at the Tropicana and that's how it works you win one , day you lose the next so it might as well be them in one Reckless night he's taken Atlantic City for , $6 million it shouldn't be too hard to take it all back right so back in the Bata dong goes steady . if the hands don't fall his way he doesn't play them he's still willing to bet big but only when , the cards are right and he's playing for the long game not for moments of Glory naturally the casino , roll out all the usual tricks a change of cards attractive girls slowing the game down a break for . the dealer but Don sticks with his plan keeping them on their toes he distracts the dealer with . attractive girls too again he steadily edges ahead until before you know it he's taken the B for $5 , million he's now taken $1 million from Atlantic City in Two Hits and The Bata says we're out . April 2011 Atlantic City and this time Don is at Cesar it's the most famous Casino brand in all of . America but to Don it's just another game there's no reason to change anything just stay calm play , each hand on its merits and exploit the terms he's here for the long-term win sure one bad streak and , he can lose big fast but he remains cool and he has reason to thanks to the Free Bet credits . extra terms and secret meetings he can't fa his only thought is how long will it take for Caesars to realize when will they work it out at the table again he edges ahe head once more , he doesn't win every hand of course there are big losers but when he wins he wins more often than not and that's all that matters his pulse is even the dealers less so elevated the walls are closing , in Don keeps playing keeps winning enough just about staying on top until for Caesars Panic sets , in someone calls a manager who's in London and tells him they have a player ahead by four 400,000 , no 4 million so now two Caesars pull the plug but Don insists he wants to keep playing you can go out there and play says the Pit Boss pointing to the floor where ordinary punters play with $500 , limits okay says Don and heads off to bed $15 million better off after his three Casino spree . Atlantic City shuts him down for good of course they had an agreement but casinos can't hack losing when news gets out and Don's identity is finally revealed he explains how he did it when he , spotted that the casinos were desperate Don looked at the standard Blackjack odds around 1.5% in the . casino's favor a consistent margin but a small one free bets and discounts shave that margin in the right direction so if he could find another way to manipulate those odds in his favor he realized . that he could beat the casinos but how at this point using his connections as a former employer , in the beton industry Don had reached out to a group of people he knew could help the team of Ivy , League maths phds he asked them to deconstruct the game of blackjack Roll by roll and then come up , with a list of small changes to manipulate the odds in his favor the soft 17 the doubling up the . split hands which combined with the free bets and discounts they calculated would reduce the house . advantage to a minimum of just 0.253 in effect it had become a 50/50 game but from the Tropicana . to the Bata to Caesars how did the casinos miss it for an industry expert it was this the casinos started accepting more risk looking for a possible larger return they tended to start swinging for , the fences in other words they only thought about winning to Don though it was this one bad maths , he said I just think somebody missed the math when they did the numbers on it they changed the rules without the casinos calculating the cost fully and then then to good luck in his words . I'll take luck over any other skill there's no magic to this eventually someone would whack them and I'm just glad it was me in the end perhaps Don was just good at playing cards and reading people , after leaving town with his hard-earned winnings Don Embraces his new lifestyle as seen partnering with Bon Joy Charlie Sheen and Pamela Anderson in the USA Sydney and London over in Atlantic , City though the casinos are left reeling Mark Jin Antonio the president of the Tropicana was . fired they won't make that same mistake again the odds are firmly back in their favor and . fundamentally unfair until the next guy finds a way to beat them just like this one here in the . next video thanks for watching please subscribe

The Man Who Beat Atlantic City Casinos for $15M