CORE's growth from a Southern California start-up six years ago to a thriving statewide business of approximately 150 employees grossing, Nathan estimates, around $20 million a year lies in the work of the Ph.D. statisticians and mathematicians it contracted to devise its card-winning formulas. These formulas are protected in a shroud of secrecy. New hires sign a confidentiality agreement and are instructed not to reveal their card-playing methods to anyone.

"The most important quality CORE looks for in a new hire is loyalty," says Nathan. "The rest can be taught." Loyalty means you don't steal from the company and you don't divulge information about the company. A large percentage of employees are hired through friends of friends of current employees.

Despite the fact that it is doing nothing to break the law, CORE is tight-lipped about the details of its business. Darrell Myers, CORE's CEO, did not return this reporter's phone calls, but his secretary did call, wanting to know which former employees had been interviewed for this story.

The company expanded its operations to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1997. Its players have worked Lucky Chances casino in Colma, Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno and Casino San Pablo and Oaks Card Club in Emeryville. A couple of those casinos refused to discuss prop players. Artichoke Joe's said it has never paid prop players to work its card room; that the casino "never believed in it." When asked about the presence of name-badge-wearing players with large piles of chips, the casino claimed to have no idea who these players were. "Maybe they're wearing name badges 'cause they work at the airport," offered one of Artichoke Joe's shift managers.

Sally Hogarty, director of public relations for Casino San Pablo, was more forthcoming. "Yes, we employ prop players," she says. "They're good for business because they draw players to a table when we're starting a new game. They also allow us to accommodate players who want to bet larger amounts." The casino itself employs a certain number of prop players who don't receive any special training but are experienced cardplayers. The casino also works with several outside companies, including CORE, although it no longer pays its players to be there.

In response to pressure from the California attorney general's office to exert greater regulatory control over California's gambling industry, the state Legislature enacted the Gambling Control Act in 1997. The Division of Gambling Control and the California Gambling Control Commission were created to ensure that state gambling licenses are not issued or held by "unsuitable or unqualified individuals."

Peter Melnicoe, chief counsel for the California Gambling Control Commission, is aware of the existence of companies that employ prop players and their mutually beneficial relationship with card rooms, but until now the provisions of the Gambling Control Act have had little effect on their activities. That may change in 2002. The Division of Gambling Control will soon be responsible for controlling the licensing of prop players.

"Contracts prop player companies have with casinos will have to be approved by the Division," explains Melnicoe. The agency will also run background checks on prop players and provide the official name badges that are currently issued by local regulatory authorities. The specific criteria for the contracts and licensing will be decided at a hearing in San Francisco Friday.

The commission knows about the prop players, but do the other players know who the men and women wearing name badges are? After all, they're the people who actually stand to lose by the presence of professional gamblers.

"Anyone who goes to card rooms on a regular basis knows when they're playing against a professional," asserts Nathan.

I test this theory out at Lucky Chances by striking up a conversation with another onlooker at a pai gow poker game, an Asian man in his 20s with a wispy moustache. Indicating the professional player sitting opposite us, a middle-aged white woman in a colorful sweater, I ask him why she has so many chips.

"She works here," he explains.

"For the casino?"

"No, corporation."

"What corporation?"

He shrugs and turns away.

The other players don't appear to be concerned about playing against professionals as long as they are playing and occasionally winning themselves. It's worth noting that the statistical advantage that professionals have in California card rooms in most cases is significantly smaller than the advantage that Nevada casinos have over their customers in every game.

I asked Melnicoe if he feels that the activities of companies such as CORE in any way violate the Gaming Control Act, which states that gambling in the state of California should be "free of criminal and corruptive elements, that it is conducted honestly and competitively."

"There's a certain amount of skill in this form of gaming," Melnicoe replied, "and I'm not sure that it's improper for people to have a high level of skill. If someone's wearing a name badge that identifies them as a prop player and another player doesn't want to play against them, they can always leave the table."

Whatever the impact of the Division of Gambling Control's new provisions, CORE's days may be numbered. Its profits have been in decline for some time and it recently laid off several employees, according to both Nathan and Melnicoe. Nathan believes CORE's fate is the result of other companies such as Network M and the Bankers Group undercutting its presence in the casinos by offering prop players for a lower fee than CORE charges, or for no fee at all. Melnicoe disagrees. "The field isn't overcrowded," he says. "There's more demand for prop players than these companies can supply."

Nathan got out of the casino industry several months ago. Although he is still out of work, he has no regrets about leaving when he did. He says that although CORE takes great care not to break the law, he was still plagued by the feeling that he was involved in "a nasty and unethical business."

Knowing how long he's been unemployed, I ask him if he isn't tempted to simply go to a casino with what's left of his savings and make some quick cash. He grins and shakes his head. "I would need to play with hundreds of thousands of dollars around the clock to turn a profit," he explains. "If you don't have that kind of capital, gambling's a loser's game."

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