APPLE RELEASES CARD COUNTING SOFTWARE - Posted by KatA 

A new iPhone application has Nevada gaming regulators seeing red and Apple seeing green. Lots of it. Apple’s latest application allows interested customers to legally download card counting software to their phones. While the software itself is completely legal, using it in a casino isn’t. Counting cards is technically legal but doing so with the assistance of any type of device is considered a felony under Nevada gaming law. Nevada Control Board member Randy Sayre warns that the gaming industry is about to see a new wave of technologically assisted cheating in casinos and worries that the iPhone may play a part. In an effort to warn casino operators to watch out for patrons using their iPhones illegally, Nevada gaming regulators released a statement that an iPhone armed with this software could qualify as an electronic cheating device. Their plan completely backfired. Since the Review-Journal reported the gaming regulators’ warning, the card counting application’s sales have skyrocketed. Before the warning was released, the application was averaging about 10 sales a day and selling at $4.99 on the iTunes applications store. However, sales jumped to 500 a day in the US alone the day after the Review-Journal reported the regulators’ warning. Demand increased so incredibly that the software’s price was cut in half. Soon after the Review-Journal’s report was released CNN, The Associated Press, Fox News, MSNBC and many other international media outlets began reporting on the software. Sales then jumped to over 1400 a day. The price has currently been cut to 99 cents with its developer hoping the program can make the top ten sales list for iPhone applications. The Nevada Control Board now says they’re worried about uninformed tourists getting themselves into trouble by using the software on casino floors. While no one has yet been detected using this device in Nevada, they feel that it’s just a matter of time. Currently it’s up to individual casinos to decide whether or not to ban iPhones from gaming tables. However, anyone caught using one illegally can be detained by casino operators and arrested on the spot by state gaming agents. Now there’s a nice end to a long weekend in Vegas.