France arrests over 'casino scam'

[Gerald]

French police say they have arrested three Italians and a Frenchman over a sophisticated casino scam in Cannes.The Frenchman is accused of marking a deck of cards with invisible ink and ensuring the three Italians played from that deck, reports say.The Italians, meanwhile, wore special lenses to enable them to see the markings, according to police.The gang are accused of swindling one casino out of up to 64,000 euros ($88,000; £56,000).

The players pocketed tens of thousands of euros after playing poker against the croupier.

But detectives believe they may have used the technique elsewhere in Europe before coming to their attention in France.Suspicions were raised at the Princes Casino in the resort city when the Italians won 44,000 euros playing a form of stud poker against the croupier, then returned earlier this week to win another 20,000 euros.On investigation, the cards were found to have been marked with invisible symbols, including a line for an ace and a cross for a king."At first we thought they were using cameras, but we didn't find anything," a police spokesman reportedly said."Finally, we realised that their strategy involved using contact lenses."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15302679

Note: 14 October 2011 Last updated at 09:04 GMT