Magnetic Earpieces and X-Ray Tables — Inside the NBA Scandal That Makes Vegas Feel Like Child’s Play

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If you thought poker night was just chips, bluffs and occasional Cheeto crumbs, prosecutors say welcome to the 21st-century upgrade: stealth magnets, contact-lens clairvoyance and tables that do card reading like a bored X-ray technician. 

The federal indictment laying out an alleged multimillion-dollar NBA-and-Mafia linked gambling scheme reads less like a true-crime podcast and more like a prop list for a very illegal sci-fi casino.

At center stage is fraud pro Sal Piacente, who showed CNN a gadget so tiny it qualifies as jewelry for a gnat: an earpiece “about the size of a shotgun shot” that can be lodged deep in the ear and — if you believe Piacente — later retrieved with a magnet because “the device is so miniscule that a magnet is even needed to draw the metal ball away from the user’s eardrum to retrieve it.” 

His point wasn’t to glamorize cheating; it was to make it painfully obvious that if someone wants to rig a table, modern tech hands them all the tools. 

“If you were talking to me or standing right next to me … you can’t see it. When my partner is talking to me I hear it so loud,” Piacente said, a line that makes the phrase “I didn’t hear you” sound like a premeditated alibi.

Prosecutors’ papers describe an arsenal of devices that reads like a gambler’s worst shopping list. 

Sham “X-ray” tables supposedly have upward-facing cameras that peer through green felt and spy the faces of cards lying downward — and then transmit that intelligence to conspirators. 

Piacente explained how the trick works: “It can actually see through the green felt. … As long as the cards lie above the camera, the camera can see what the card is and then transmit it.” 

Deckmate2 shufflers — the official shufflers of the National Series of Poker — make an appearance too, allegedly repurposed so that the machine’s card-tracking camera tells cheaters exactly what’s where in the deck.

There are reportedly false-shuffle hacks that make mechanical whirring noises for plausibility and chip-tray decoy phones that instantly compute who’s slated to win based on barcode patterns spotted during the cut. 

Piacente summed up the pipeline: devices read the deck, software analyzes the outcome, and an operator sends the info back to players — often via the tiny earpieces. 

“That information is transmitted elsewhere and that person receiving the information sends it back,” he said. 

In other words: it’s less about sleight of hand and more like an industrial-grade feedback loop wearing a pair of sunglasses.

This isn’t put together by some group of anonymous hustlers. 

Federal prosecutors allege that some of New York City’s reputed Mafia families teamed up with NBA figures to lure deep-pocket victims to high-stakes fixed games, cheat them, and then pressure them to settle debts. 

The indictment names prominent basketball figures — including Chauncy Billups and Damon Jones (as spelled in court papers) — as being paid to help bring players to the tables, prosecutors say. 

Separate charges accuse Terry Rozier and others of providing inside information to bettors, allegedly tipping when players might sit out or pull early from basketball games. 

Important Caveat: These are allegations laid out in court filings and remain to be adjudicated.

The surrealism of the scheme is part Bond villain, part barstool brag: imagine a mobster in loafers, an NBA pro in a suit, and a tech contractor whispering odds into a minuscule ball lodged in an ear. 

The endgame, prosecutors say, was not just quick winnings but long-term extraction — funneling proceeds back to organized crime networks.

If there’s a takeaway beyond the cinematic absurdity, it’s a cautionary one: the intersection of small, cheap electronics and sophisticated social engineering creates cracking opportunities for fraud. 

Cheater-proofing casinos has traditionally meant better surveillance and shuffling protocols; now it also means thinking like a hacker and assuming that the next “table” might be a high-tech relay for information.

That makes for great headlines and lousy nights for players who thought poker was a test of skill. 

For the rest of us, the case is a reminder that if your opponent suddenly seems to know your next card, it might not be luck — it might be an app, an X-ray table, or a transmitter made from a tiny metal ball.


FHSAA Fines Zephyrhills Christian Academy $150,600; Including Forfeiture of Games & Honors

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#PokerScam #XRayTables #SalPiacente #ChauncyBillups #DamonJones #TerryRozier #EarpieceCheats #Deckmate2 #CasinoFraud #MafiaGambling #ContactLensTrick #FalseShuffle #HighTechCheating #FederalIndictment #CardGameConspiracy

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