Ritz coup trio keep Pounds 1.3m

No charges over hi-tech scan device GAMBLERS who "won" Pounds 1.3million on the Ritz hotel's roulette wheel with the help of hi- tech computer gadgetry have escaped prosecution.

Scotland Yard said the cash would be returned to the trio of gamblers who used computerised scanners and sophisticated software to pull off an alleged sting at the hotel in March.

The three - a Hungarian woman and two Serbian men - have been told that because their scanners only provided information and did not manipulate the equipment, there were no grounds to prosecute. Casino managers became suspicious after the trio won Pounds 1.3 million over two days in March. On the first night they won Pounds 100,000. They returned the next night to win a further Pounds 1.2 million, which they quickly cashed. After declining offers of free caviar and champagne, they departed soon afterwards.

Suspicious security experts examined CCTV footage and officers from Scotland Yard's gaming squad later arrested the three at a nearby hotel and impounded the cash and mobile phones.

The three - a 32-year-old Hungarian woman described as "chic and beautiful" and two Serbs aged 33 and 38 - were questioned and released on bail. Now they have been told that they are free to leave the country. Police sources said it was notoriously difficult to get enough evidence to prosecute people over alleged casino fraud and in this case there was no proof they had "technically" interfered with the equipment.

The audacity of the gambling coup stunned casino owners, who will now be forced to tighten security.

Anyone caught cheating at a casino is usually prosecuted for obtaining money by deception or under the 1845 law, Cheating at Gaming Activities. But the law does not take into account new advances in computer technology which can help a cheat. The Ritz declined to comment on the dropping of charges or the implications of the decision.

Dr Mark Griffiths, professor of gambling at Nottingham Trent University, said unless the law was tightened up other people would attempt to use similar devices.

HOW THEY DID IT A laser scanner concealed within a mobile phone and pointed at the roulette wheel measures the speed of the ball as the croupier releases it and where it first lands on the wheel from the croupier's hand.

. The scanner also analyses the declining orbit of the ball as it begins to lose momentum and spin in smaller circles.

By recording one revolution of the wheel the scanner can calculate the rate the ball and wheel, which has been spun in the opposite direction, are slowing at.

. It then beams these factors to a separate microcomputer which analyses the thousands of possible spin simulations and sends a message back to the mobile phone indicating the most likely landing quarter on the wheel.

. The high-speed calculations by the microcomputer allow the gambler to place a bet on several numbers before the third spin of the wheel, by which time the croupier calls "no more bets" . Estimates suggest the device can cut the odds on winning from 37-1 to 6-1.

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