Archie Karas: What the Regulatory Record Actually Shows

What the Public Record Shows

Almost nothing in the popular telling of Archie Karas's early-1990s run in Las Vegas can be sourced. The amounts, the dates, the opponents and the single-session swings all come from retellings of retellings. What does exist is a regulatory record, and it is the only part of this story that can be read from a primary document.

The Nevada Gaming Commission's List of Excluded Persons carries an entry under the name Anargyros Nicholas Karabourniotis, whose listed aliases include Archie Karas. The Commission's own entry gives a date of birth of 11/01/1950, a date of exclusion of 09/17/2015, and the Commission file number 15-90. The date in that field is not an arbitrary one: the Commission's regulations require the list to carry, for each excluded person, "The effective date the person's name was placed on the list;". The entry's "Other Information" field reads "None", so the record states that he was listed and when, and does not state why.

What Being on That List Means

The list is a statutory instrument, not a reputation. The Nevada Gaming Control Board publishes the authority for it in full. Under NRS 463.151, "The commission may by regulation provide for the establishment of a list of persons who are to be excluded or ejected from any licensed gaming establishment which conducts pari-mutuel wagering or operates any race book, sports pool or games, other than slot machines only." The test for inclusion is stated in the same section: "The list may include any person whose presence in the establishment is determined by the board and the commission to pose a threat to the interests of this state or to licensed gaming, or both."

The grounds a person may be listed on are enumerated, and the Commission's implementing regulation states that "The criteria applied by the board and commission for inclusion of a person upon such list are those set forth in NRS 463.151(3), any one of which is sufficient for inclusion." Those criteria include "Prior conviction of a crime which is a felony in this state or under the laws of the United States, a crime involving moral turpitude or a violation of the gaming laws of any state;" and "Notorious or unsavory reputation which would adversely affect public confidence and trust that the gaming industry is free from criminal or corruptive elements". Because any one of them is enough, and because the entry records no grounds, the record does not establish which applied.

The consequences are concrete and run in both directions. For the listed person: "Any person who has been placed on the list of persons to be excluded or ejected from any licensed gaming establishment pursuant to NRS 463.151 is guilty of a gross misdemeanor if he thereafter enters the premises of a licensed gaming establishment which conducts pari-mutuel wagering or operates any race book, sports pool or games, other than slot machines only, without first having obtained a determination by the commission that he should not have been placed on the list of persons to be excluded or ejected." For the casino: "Catering to any excluded person, including the granting of complimentary room, food or beverage or the issuance of credit to any such person, by any licensed gaming establishment is an unsuitable method of operation."

The Figures in This Story Are Not Sourceable

The amounts usually given in this story — a bankroll grown from a small stake, and particular sums lost in particular sessions — are not stated by any regulator, court record or news organisation read for this page, and are not repeated here in any form. A story about money with no sourced amount in it is a thinner story; it is also the only honest version of this one.

Why a Run Like That Ends

The structural reason has nothing to do with luck running out, and the Gambling Commission's own consumer guidance on gaming machine payouts states both halves of it. On the operator's built-in margin: "This is called the house edge, and it gives a measure of the percentage that a casino would expect to keep, on average, from each hand or spin, given normal patterns of play." On the idea that a hot streak is owed a correction, or a cold one a rebound: "The odds of achieving a win in the current game remain constant and are not affected by wins or losses in previous games." The same page notes that a return figure "is an average achieved over a significant number of game plays and not each time the gaming machine is played." That guidance addresses gaming machines rather than table games, but the two sentences above describe the arithmetic common to both.

The Commission's guidance on banker's games names where the margin comes from: "The most obvious types of banker's game are those (such as roulette or blackjack) which contain an inbuilt advantage to whoever is the banker (a house or banker's edge)." A player's decisions are real — a blackjack decision changes the odds of that hand — and a decision can reduce a house edge. No decision eliminates it, and no run of results makes the next one more likely.

If Gambling Is Causing Harm

The NHS publishes a short self-assessment and states that "Treatment and support groups are available if gambling is causing problems for you." Two of its screening questions are the ones this story turns on: "Have you tried to win back money you have lost (chasing losses)?" and "Have you borrowed money or sold anything to get money to gamble?" The NHS gives the National Gambling Helpline number as 0808 8020 133, free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and notes that "You can self-refer to a gambling clinic near you." In the United States the National Council on Problem Gambling runs the National Problem Gambling Helpline on 1-800-MY-RESET.