Jack Hitt

But they weren't gambling at all because they counted cards.

Here's one of the players, Mike.

He'll explain.

But even if you square in your heart that card counting is not a sin morally, isn't it illegal in some states?

Or at least considered cheating by the casinos?

I ran this by Ben, the founder, who could not wait to correct me.

How could that be?

We all know that casinos spend tons of money on overhead cameras and security guys to detect card counters.

So I called the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Ben was right.

Card counting isn't illegal.

In fact, the spokeswoman said it wasn't even against the rules, though they do discourage it.

She told me that if they catch you, they'll ask you to go play other games, a process known as backing off.

Or if they really don't like what you're doing, they will tell you to leave and that you're not allowed back.

But for the most part, casinos just don't like to dissuade anyone from gambling, even card counters.

Maybe because most of them are so bad at it, they lose money anyway.

And so they pulled it off.

Ben and Colin kept training more and more churchgoers, flying the members of their congregation to casinos all over the country.

Soon enough, the casinos began to treat them as whales.

That's what they called big-time gamblers, rewarding them with comps, free rooms, cases of liquor.

They'd come home with amazing stories of winning thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, on the perfectly laid bet.