I got banned from a Detroit casino for counting cards, then charged with larceny over my own chips. I refused two plea deals, was acquitted, and later won a published appeals decision against the Michigan Gaming Control Board. AMA.
2010, Greektown Casino, Detroit. A Michigan regulator's officer stated the ban reason on the record: I was an "advantage player." No device, no team play at that table — my head and my money.
I took back chips I believed in good faith were mine. They charged me with larceny.
The prosecution offered a plea. I refused. They came back with a second offer — one that would have left me with no conviction at all. I refused that too, because a deal isn't a verdict. On February 25, 2011, the Court acquitted me at a bench trial.
Then I sued the state for its own records. Lost at the trial court. Won on appeal — a published decision, Arabo v Michigan Gaming Control Board, 310 Mich App 370 (2015). Courts were still citing it this year. I carried the constitutional question to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined the case. Somewhere along the way I ended up listed by name as a creditor in the City of Detroit's bankruptcy, which tells you how long this road was.
Full disclosure so nobody has to ask: I eventually built a course and a documentary out of all of this. I'm not linking either here — this post is the story, and the counting arithmetic itself is free on my site with no account anyway. Ask me anything about the case, the count, backoffs, or what your rights actually look like the day it happens to you.