How Hacked Card Shufflers Allegedly Enabled a Mob-Fueled Poker Scam That Rocked the NBA

The Deckmate 2 automatic paper shufflers utilized successful casinos, paper houses, and high-end backstage poker games astir nan world are designed to shuffle a platform successful seconds pinch perfect, computer-generated randomness, vastly speeding up play. They're also, amazingly, sold pinch a camera wrong that tin observe each paper successful nan deck earlier it's dealt—a truth that's go very convenient for poker-cheating hackers and, allegedly, members of nan Cosa Nostra mafia.

On Thursday, nan United States Justice Department unsealed an indictment against 31 people, including alleged members of respective organized crime families on pinch 2 well-known figures successful nan NBA—Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and erstwhile subordinate and adjunct coach Damon Jones—for what prosecutors picture arsenic their roles successful a immense rigged-gambling conspiracy. Miami Heat defender Terry Rozier was charged successful a separate alleged gambling scheme, on pinch Jones and 4 others.

The 31 defendants successful nan first indictment are charged pinch moving a ringing of high-stakes backstage poker games from New York to nan Hamptons to Miami, allegedly luring victims pinch nan imaginable of playing pinch NBA stars and past fleecing them for tens aliases moreover hundreds of thousands of dollars pinch aggregate high-tech cheating systems—among them, hacked paper shufflers group up to secretly transmit precisely what cards each subordinate would person successful their hand.

According to prosecutors, nan marks were taken for much than $7 cardinal complete respective years of moving nan rigged gambling schemes. “These individuals utilized exertion and deceit to scam guiltless victims retired of millions of dollars—eventually funneling money to La Casa Nostra and enriching 1 of nan astir notorious criminal networks successful nan world,” FBI head Kash Patel wrote successful a statement.

At nan halfway of that lucrative alleged poker conspiracy is nan Deckmate 2, an automated paper shuffler that's astir ubiquitous successful high-end gambling establishments—and has, for astatine slightest 2 years, been nan taxable of cybersecurity controversy. At nan Black Hat hacker convention successful August of 2023, a squad of researchers from information patient IOActive presented a proof-of-concept method for hacking nan shuffler pinch a mini instrumentality that plugs into its exposed USB port. That mini machine would change nan codification of nan shuffler to springiness a hacker entree to its soul camera—built into nan instrumentality for nan intent of assuring that nan platform is intact—and past transmit nan full platform bid to a adjacent telephone via Bluetooth.

With a custom-built app connected that phone, nan researchers showed they could foretell precisely what hands each subordinate astatine nan array would person successful a crippled of Texas Hold'em. Even if nan trader cuts nan deck, entering into nan app nan 2 cards successful a cheating player's manus aliases nan 3 “flop” cards exposed connected nan array early successful a information of Texas Hold'em would show nan cheater precisely wherever nan trader had trim to successful nan platform and frankincense connection afloat knowledge of who holds nan champion hand.

Joseph Tartaro, astatine nan clip a information interrogator astatine IOActive, described nan method arsenic “100 percent full-control cheating" successful a 2023 question and reply pinch WIRED. “We can, for example, conscionable publication nan changeless information from nan camera truthful we tin cognize nan platform order,” Tartaro said. "When that platform goes retired into play, we cognize precisely nan manus that everyone is going to have.”

While Tartaro suggested successful a later question and reply that a cheating subordinate could surreptitiously plug his hacking instrumentality into a shuffler successful a casino, he besides noted that personification who owned aliases maintained nan shuffler could usage it to cheat moreover much easily. “Once you person entree to nan internals, it's benignant of crippled over,” Tartaro said.

WIRED went truthful acold arsenic to test retired this hacked-shuffler cheating technique, arsenic shown successful nan video supra published earlier this month. With nan thief of Tartaro, we utilized a hacked Deckmate 2 to cheat against 2 unsuspecting players successful a unrecorded crippled of Texas Hold'em. By partnering pinch Tartaro successful nan crippled and utilizing a strategy of covert manus signals that communicated his concealed knowledge of nan winning manus transmitted from nan hacked shuffler, we yet cleaned retired nan 2 victims successful our demo game.

The existent alleged poker cheating ring, prosecutors person now revealed, had been utilizing almost precisely nan aforesaid hacking techniques for years. In their games, however, respective alleged defendants are said to person utilized pre-rigged Deckmate 2 shufflers nether their ain power alternatively than hack machines owned by others via their USB port, arsenic IOActive described. (In 1 lawsuit mentioned successful nan indictment, immoderate defendants allegedly moreover stole a rigged shuffler from personification astatine gunpoint to usage successful their games.)

The hacked shufflers were programmed to transmit nan knowledge of nan players' hands to a distant operator, who past sent that accusation backmost to nan telephone of a subordinate successful nan crippled known arsenic a “quarterback” aliases “driver,” according to prosecutors. The indictment claims that nan lead cheater would past usage covert signals to show different cheating players successful nan crippled really to stake aliases fold.

When WIRED reached retired to Light & Wonder, nan institution that sells nan Deckmate 2, a institution spokesperson responded by pointing to aggregate ways nan institution had improved nan shufflers' information since IOActive first publically exposed its vulnerabilities successful 2023. The institution says it updated nan firmware successful its shufflers to spot information flaws IOActive revealed, specified arsenic nan expertise to circumvent a cryptographic cheque of whether nan shuffler's codification had been altered. It besides abnormal nan USB larboard successful each shufflers.

Even then, poker and cheating experts constituent retired to WIRED that, while shufflers successful licensed casinos whitethorn person gotten those updates, secondhand and black-market Deckmate 2s utilized successful unlicensed paper houses aliases backstage games whitethorn not person gotten nan aforesaid attention—or could beryllium deliberately rigged by personification who group up nan game.

"If there's a camera that knows nan cards, location is ever immoderate benignant of underlying threat. Customers are gonna beryllium fundamentally astatine nan mercy of nan personification mounting up nan machine," poker subordinate and paper location proprietor Doug Polk antecedently told WIRED. “If you're showing up successful a backstage crippled and there's a shuffler, I would opportunity you should tally for nan hills.”

Hacking nan Deckmate 2, according to prosecutors, was only 1 of respective cheating techniques nan mobsters allegedly used, albeit nan 1 that's described successful nan astir item successful nan indictment. The charging archive besides claims that they utilized invisibly marked cards, physics poker spot trays, phones that could secretly publication cards' markings, and moreover specially designed glasses and interaction lenses.

While nan specifications of those schemes weren’t spelled retired by prosecutors, they're each good known successful nan casino information world, says Sal Piacente, a master cheating advisor and nan president of UniverSal Game Protection. Cards can, for instance, person hidden barroom codes connected their edges—printed invisibly, specified arsenic pinch infrared ink—that tin beryllium deciphered by a scholar hidden successful a spot tray aliases successful a telephone lawsuit laid connected nan table. In different cases, cards are likewise marked connected their backs pinch ink that's only visible pinch typical glasses aliases contacts.

“This benignant of instrumentality is being utilized much than you would think,” Piacente says. “When you spell to a backstage game, there's nary regulation, nary commission, nary rules. Anything goes.”