Protagonists of this article can hardly be considered cheaters, though they managed to win at roulette with a prohibited method. However, they were not motivated by the desire to get rich, but to make a discovery and earn money for the foundation of the scientific community. The fact that their group, despite the obvious success, lasted very long, only confirms this view. But let's start from the beginning.
How it all began
In the late seventies of the twentieth century Doina Farmer and Norman Packard, physics students from the University of California set out to create a group. A few enthusiasts joined them and they were The Eudaemons.
This unusual name was borrowed from eudemonism, ethical direction. It's followers believe in only moral criterion of human desire for happiness, it was the basis for their behavior. It is difficult to say whether Farmer and Packard were eudemonism adherents. But apparently, they thought that victory will make them happy.
During the summer holidays graduates bought a roulette wheel and started research. They used the camera and an oscilloscope to trace the movement of the ball and make the formula. We will not bore readers recess in scientific terms. Suffice it to say that they succeeded.
They have constructed a small computer that was supposed to make all the necessary calculations in the game. It was small enough that it can be hidden in the boot. A solenoid mechanism that signaled by vibration, when one of the eight sectors of the wheel was bet in was hidden under the shirt.
Field experience
It took more than two years to improve the device. In 1978, the friends went to Las Vegas to try it in action. One of the participants entered data and the other received signals and made bets.
The system was effective, but occasionally encountered difficulties. For example, in one of the episodes of the solenoid current Farmer began to beat and even burned skin. Besides, the guys were not professional fraudsters, none of them wanted to risk a scientific career. So after the first trip to Vegas The Eudaemons disbanded.
Their total revenue was ten thousand dollars. One can only imagine how it was possible to make such a device. However, graduate students were satisfied with the experiment, because they were able to prove that you can win roulette by calculating the trajectory of the ball.
Later The Eudaemons told the channel History through a series of gears in Breaking Vegas. They were also pictured in the famous TV series CSI and several books about the casino. Today Doina Farmer is the expert of probability theory and Professor of Santa Fe Institute.
A case from The Eudaemons' lives
Recently mathematics from Cornell University published a research paper where they prove that they can establish a link between speed of the roulette ball and place on the wheelto face the first deflector. They created software that analyzes the ball and predicts outcome.
According to the authors of this system, it allows gaining advantage in eighteen percent. I don't know if it can be used on all models and with any roulette balls, or only with certain models.
The interesting thing is that Doina Farmer, who knows the developments of mathematicians, said that The Eudaemons used a similar approach. So the security of real casinos should be ready for a new danger.
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