One of the most memorable online casino scams in history was the one uncovered at Casino Bar and its sister site Casino on Air. These casinos used COA World Entertainment Software.
It all started when players suspected that the blackjack game may be unfair. Micheal Shackleford, the Wizard of Odds, was approached by someone claiming that there was code in Casino Bar’s software that caused it to cheat. The code reported by this person to Shackleford claimed that the game dealt seconds in some scenarios. In other words, the dealer would sometimes discard an undesirable card.
The allegation stated that if a player had a 16-21 and the dealer held a 12-16, the dealer would peak at the top card in the deck. If that card would bust the dealer, it would be discarded and the next card would be drawn. That second card would be kept regardless of what it was. If it did not bust the dealer or make a hand of 17 or higher, the dealer would draw an additional card as normal. The hand would also play out normally if the dealer had a start hand of 11 or lower or would automatically stand.
The Wizard of Odds played 332 hands where the dealer had a 12-16 point total on two cards. The dealer busted just 89 times. The expected number was 149. According to Wizard’s math, the chances of busting only 89 times in the situation are 1 in 238 billion. At the time of his report, it would have been 2,976 times more likely to win the Powerball lottery drawing.
Several other blackjack experts tested the game. All received similar results.
A lawyer for COA World Entertainment software contacted Wizard of Odds with hints of a defamation lawsuit after he published his results of not receiving a fair game and demanded he remove the article. After some back and forth, the articles stayed on his site.
Wizard returned to Casino Bar to test his software under his own account. He got a fair game in his retest. Interestingly, another player did the same and had similar results to the original report of a cheating blackjack game. Wizard then did a test under a new account and discovered the game was not set as fair. He suspected that his account was flagged to receive a fair game.
COA World Entertainment eventually went out of business. Its licensees also all shut down. It is unknown how much in player funds was lost. It seems doubtful that there were any winners considering the most popular game was rigged.
