Are regulators over reacting to iPhone card counting program?

Are Nevada gaming regulators over reacting by saying an iPhone blackjack card-counting program turns the technology into a cheating device?

One former state gaming agent, now a casino security consultant, called the program a toy. Bill Zender, who operates Last Resort Consulting, said the device is not a danger to the gaming industry.

“To compare an iPhone to a concealable computer like the ‘David’ or ‘Casey’ is inconceivable,” Zender wrote in an e-mail.

Sunday’s Inside Gaming column detailed a memorandum the Nevada Gaming Control Board sent to casino operators last week warning of the device. The program can be downloaded to either the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch and uses four different strategies for card counting.

It isn’t illegal to count cards in Nevada casinos. However, using an electronic device to assist on counting makes the activity a felony. Gaming Control Board member Randy Sayre said casino security officers can detain anyone caught using the iPhone card counting program and they can be arrested by state gaming agents.

Zender, who also worked as a casino executive at the Aladdin, said gaming regulators may have over reacted to the program’s dangers.

“Unfortunately, in their diligence to provide their licensees with current information, both the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the California Department of Justice, have increased the casinos’ paranoia for card counting to a new level,” Zender said.

He added that casino operators and card room operators in California and Nevada have begun expressing concerns about the iPhone.

The Associated Press, MSNBC, CNN Radio and Fox News put out stories about the iPhone program based on Sunday’s Inside Gaming column.

Zender is worried that casino patrons may get wrongly accused of something other than just normally using an iPhone.

“How soon will it be before a customer is detained by security because he or she was simply text messaging their friend from the general proximity of a blackjack table?” Zender asked. “Worse yet, what about the possibility that this person will be arrested for possession of a cheating device which is a felony?”