Remember when: A three-man Gold Coast gambling syndicate won $114,000 at a Hobart casino

A THREE-man Gold Coast gambling syndicate won $114,000 in six weeks at the West Point casino in Hobart.

Gold Coast History: Gold Coast Bulletin 1973, April 11. Front page.

Gold Coast Bulletin, Wednesday April 11, 1973

A THREE-man Gold Coast gambling syndicate won $114,000 in six weeks at the West Point casino in Hobart.

A spokesman for the syndicate, Southport real estate agent Cliff Coghlan, said the biggest win was $64,000 in one night.

The win culminated a 10.5 hour session at a “reserved” blackjack table at West Point.

At one stage, Mr Coglhan said there were more people watching the game than the floor show which featured a “big name” star from the home of gambling, Las Vegas.

Mr Coglhan would not reveal the other members of the Gold Coast syndicate but said the proportion of the win from that one night had been $26,000, $22,5000 and $15,5000.

The syndicate, which used a system perfected by computer to play blackjack, had gambled extensively throughout the world.

In addition to the total clean-up of the $114,000 at Hobart it had won $14,500 at Macau as well as gambled in London and Las Vegas.

Total losses at the time of the Bulletin’s story were $5000.

On the syndicate first visit to West Point, about six weeks earlier, it took $38,000 and on another visit about two weeks later won a further $12,000.

The big win came on their third-ever trip to Hobart.

Mr Coghlan said the syndicate used the same system at all games, although it had to be varied in Australia to cover different rules.

One member had the system printed on a card and frequently played with it in front of him.

It was perfected at a cost of $50,000 by a mathematician with the use of a computer.