Conference in the news

To hear this story tell it, the main point of the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking is to count cards. From the RGJ:

Ever wonder how to develop a computer program that will earn you millions by predicting horse races in Hong Kong? What about simple card counting at blackjack? Curious how casino design affects problem gamblers? Or maybe international gambling law is your hobby.

Professional gamblers, academics and myriad experts will tackle those topics and others at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe during a conference today through Friday.

“The orientation here is diverse, with the audience about half academic researchers, and the others industry representatives, services, government policy makers, legislators,” said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, sponsoring the event.

“You certainly get a lot of non-industry perspectives,” he said of the 13th International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking.

Among the speakers are William Benter, the founder of a Hong Kong horse-betting syndicate, who helped develop a computer program to take advantage of the inefficient pari-mutual betting there, he said.

Famous blackjack player Semyon Dukach, the lead character in the book “Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees,” also will speak.

Their presentations at the convention are titled “Beating the System.”

There was a time when casinos weren’t too welcoming to a convention that invites professional gamblers and so-called “advantage players.”
RGJ.com: Gambling pros, experts to meet in Tahoe

After that, the emphasis is on card-counting, past, present and future. My presentation, by the way, has nothing to do with card counting, but one of the sessions I’m moderating is all about sports betting.