Three held over casino 'scam'
LONDON, England -- It could have been a scene straight out of "Casino Royale."
Police believe three people may have used a James Bond-style gadget to scoop up a fortune from the roulette table at a prestigious club.
But instead of Monte Carlo, the setting for this suspected scam was London. The casino was the Ritz Club, tucked away in the pricey hotel of the same name in the center of the city.
Police believe the device -- thought to consist of a hi-tech scanner inside a mobile phone -- could have been used to calculate the speed of the roulette ball when it was released and where it was likely to come to rest.
Operators of the exclusive casino -- frequented by Arab princes and international playboys -- became suspicious after the threesome managed to pocket than £1 million ($1.8 million) in winnings on March 16.
All tables are monitored using video cameras and experts looked at the tapes before calling in Scotland Yard, according to media reports.
London's Metropolitan Police said two men and one woman -- all from Eastern Europe -- were arrested on suspicion of obtaining money by deception through gambling, and ordered to report back to police on March 30.
A police spokesman told CNN that "a significant amount of cash" had been seized in the investigation.
"Whether they (the casino operators) are victims of a crime or not is what we're trying to establish," the spokesman said.
The technology that the threesome are alleged to have used is also the subject of some debate.
"I haven't heard of a laser scanner being used before but on roulette mathematical systems have been used for years based on the speed of the ball and where the croupier puts the ball," Mark Griffiths, professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University, told the UK's Press Association.
"It is reliant on calculations being done very quickly and when you have got technology involved it improves the chances," he said.
"But the industry is well aware there may be underhand methods operating and then something happens once, word travels very quickly."
