Con Men Choose Wrong Columbus to Celebrate Casino Gambling

Five scam artists were arrested in Columbus, Georgia, for illegal gambling using such cons as the shell game.

A measure was passed last week to issue a casino license for Columbus, but five men operating a gambling scam found themselves in the wrong town to expect  gaming tolerance. Columbus, Ohio, is now expecting a new casino after voters registered approval, but Columbus, Georgia was the wrong place at the wrong time for the group of scammers gambling with bystanders.

The five were enticing people attending a football game between Fort Valley State University and Albany State University in to shell and card games rigged to not pay off. Witnesses had notified police officers nearby of the con.

Shell games and card games like three-card monte use shills who seem to win as lures to get others to play the unwinnable games. The shills are secretly in league with the dealer.

The games are of a type that gives gambling a bad name, causing anti-gambling advocates to say gaming operators won't give players a fair chance or honest game. Most casinos and gambling operations are happy to accept the house edge and run an honest game, although the refusal of certain land casinos to honor jackpots may seem to be a big-dollar version of the shell game.

While Ohio has elected to pursue several methods of expanding gambling, including creating four casinos in Columbus and three other cities, Georgia law still forbids most gambling, leading to gaming-hungry patrons being bilked by unscrupulous con men.