Scammers got the principles of slot operation and cut off pieces of real casino chips, making small changes in their shape. The chip was accepted by the device, allowing cheaters to play, and then it threw out a coin, considering it not suitable. It was almost a 'perpetuum mobile' for hacking slots. No slot machine is due to pay anyone. Most modern casinos make use of their own tokens and chips. The slot machine is designed to measure the actual size of the chips, also its density, and metal makeup. Scammers of slot machines will have a difficult time in duplicating the chips and tokens that the slot machine is using.
What's the best slot cheating scam happening today?
To answer this question, sometimes we have to look at the past to understand the future. The technology of the slot machine has been evolving at a rapid rate over the past several years. This technology has outpaced casino operations, internal controls, training and protection of these devices.
The golden age of slot cheating was the 1980s-long before online slot networks and coinless gaming. It was a time when nearly 50 percent of all Nevada's excluded persons were slot cheats.
There weren't any door alarms, and there wasn't much camera coverage in the slot areas. The machines were easy to beat and easy to steal from. There was no real focus on how much money casinos were actually losing. The thinking was 'just plug them in and let them do their job.'
In those days, there were numerous arrests for usage of lead slugs, kick-stands, monkey paws and a host of other scams and cheating activities. It was easy for theft to occur internally. Most casinos used signature stamps to speed up the jackpot and coin-fill process. The jackpot and fill slips were initially generated manually; only later did they progress to being generated electronically.
When a customer hit a jackpot over a certain amount in those days, the supervisor would create a jackpot slip; the slot floor person would theoretically verify the jackpot amount and various symbols and sign the slip. The supervisor would then take the slip over to an employee window and the cashier would give them the money. As long as the amounts were under the taxable rate of $1,200, there was no additional paperwork.
So what could possibly go wrong? Anyone who had access to a floor person's stamp, or working in concert with a floor person, had a license to print money. This was one of many internal scams that went undetected in many casinos during that time.
The addition of an online slot network did not mitigate the casino's exposure; it just made it harder for officials to catch a thief. These systems were inherently flawed. They still relied on human interaction, and assumed the humans would follow the proper internal controls.
The first of these systems was very easy to exploit. A simple reprint feature or override function key was all it took to commit fraud on a massive scale. There have been numerous documented cases involving millions of dollars stolen from casinos using this method.
Electronic Cheating
The years 1990 through 2000 were considered to be the most costly decade for slot cheating. This is the period when the slot cheats went high-tech to combat the slot manufacturers' security responses to their earlier cheating methods.
Slot-makers were now adding optic hoppers, bill validators, online slot networks and more. Nobody would be stupid enough to try and cheat the slots now, right?
But once again, the cheats seemed to be a step or two ahead of us.
The debut of the 'mini light' or 'light wand' caught the casinos by surprise. This device contained a small LED light on the end, a battery pack on the other end and a magnet to hold it in place.
The thief would put his hand with the device up the payout chute. The light would trigger a payout that was not detected by the credit meter or any other electronic tracking device. Turns out hundreds of these lights were produced during the subsequent few years. It has been estimated that these devices cost Nevada casinos alone millions of dollars.
This was followed by a series of other hybrid devices that were designed to cheat the casinos out of millions more. There was the credit accelerator device, the bill validator pull-string device, the coin acceptor disabler device and a host of manual manipulation techniques. There were well-organized groups of slot cheats traveling the world implementing these techniques on a massive scale. There were individual slot cheats implementing these techniques as needed.
Many of the organized groups simply treated cheating as a business. They would purchase slot machines and reverse-engineer them to find the vulnerabilities, and then create devices to exploit those vulnerabilities. They had labs, resources and money.
Mistakes and Misbehavior
In the early 1990s, information was received that there may be corrupt EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory) chips in some slot machines. These corrupt chips had a line of program code that allowed a player to hit a jackpot when he inserted a certain series of coins. For example, on a five-coin machine, the player would insert three coins, one coin, four coins, two coins and five coins in order. This was the combination to the jackpot code, and you would receive a winning combination, usually under the taxable amount.
Around this same time, a bored, retired rocket scientist was developing and using a device that could determine what the outcome of a video poker machine would be, usually within five to eight hands. This allowed him to hit royal flushes and other high awards at an incredible rate. This device worked on the premise that nothing is random when it comes to a machine. The exploit was fairly straightforward, and used the RNG (random number generator) in the machine to help him predict the outcome of the game based on the previous hands he played.
As these two separate investigations were unfolding, the industry discovered many things about how slot machines really worked. It was discovered that EPROM chips were not that secure, and could be easily duplicated with the right type of equipment. And who knew that randomness is really not that random?
The computer term 'Easter egg' became well-known. An Easter egg is a surprise-an additional piece of code buried deep within several thousands of layers of code. Sometimes it is as innocent as a message from the developers, and sometimes it allows the user to access operating system features that could lead to fraud. The EPROM problem mentioned above was an Easter egg program designed specifically for this purpose.
The EPROM scam was linked to several individuals, including casino employees and other sources. One of the sources had a package delivered to another part of the country that was intercepted. The package contained over 100 corrupt EPROM chips. These chips were sent to the Nevada state gaming laboratory to be tested in its electronics division.
The other investigation into the RNG device had come to a conclusion, and this device made its way to the same lab for testing.
The individual responsible for testing these devices was Ronald Dale Harris, who immediately saw the possibilities of both of these devices. Harris used a gaming lab computer to have an Easter egg program uploaded to slot machines around the state that would allow his co-conspirators to hit a jackpot by inserting a series of coins. He later used an RNG program to help predict the outcome of a keno game at an Atlantic City casino to win $50,000. Is this a coincidence?
Next came the infamous 'star wars' device that a very notorious slot cheat designed to piggy-back the existing EPROM in a slot machine. The device would flash the legitimate EPROM and when the machine was re-booted it would bring up the highest award paid for that machine. This well-organized cheating ring would use associates with no criminal record to collect the awards, which consisted of high-end vehicles and very large cash prizes.
Tighter Security
As we moved into the 21st century, the level of these types of cheating methods started to taper off. The industry started to move toward coinless gaming, and more reliance on the slot network to provide security for these devices was the natural course of action.
Since there wasn't any coin to worry about, the only thing the cheats could do was attack the bill validators and other components previously mentioned. The manufacturers and regulators also stepped up their game by creating some additional internal controls and other fixes to prevent some of these crimes from occurring. Bills were now 100 percent metered so if there was a shortfall of cash it could be discovered very quickly. The TITO systems (ticket-in/ticket-out) were also metered and well-controlled. There is also more security on the internal components like the motherboard and EPROM chips.
The attention soon shifted from what the cheats were doing to what the employees were doing. Internal slot fraud is a growing problem with these new systems.
An internal control is only as good as the person who follows it. Employees are figuring out ways to breach the systems from a variety of different angles, from fraudulent player reinvestment ratings all the way to creating fraudulent tickets that a co-conspirator can later redeem for cash.
Remember, employees often get bored and start poking around, or they accidentally discover some flaw in the system that would allow them, in their minds, to get away with the crime.
As recently as 2007, a slot technician used a jumper wire to remove a machine from the casino floor for maintenance. The jumper wire was connected back to the server and then back to a slot machine in the tech shop for testing. The slot tech would print legitimate tickets for relatively small amounts and have a co-conspirator cash them in. It was estimated that the loss was over $1 million.
All program code is inherently flawed, and requires constant updates and patches to fix various bugs. Some very knowledgeable slot cheats discovered a number of program flaws in some newer multi-denomination and multi-game slot machines. By hitting different combinations of buttons, they could change the value of their credits from 5 cents to 25 cents and higher.
The manufacturers responded quickly, and a patch upgrade was issued at no cost to the casinos. But not all casinos reacted quickly. Some casinos did not, and the vulnerability existed for quite some time until they took the appropriate steps.
Electronic bonusing, different award programs and other jackpot systems undoubtedly are vulnerable. There is talk of smart card devices, debit card transactions and server-based gaming. Will these devices be more secure than their predecessors, or will they launch a new era and a new breed of slot cheat?
How will surveillance catch these new-age slot cheats? Will their crimes be invisible to the casino? Does the surveillance department need to look into some new tools and standards to help us proactively identify fraud in the cyber world? Answer this question: 'What is the best slot cheating scam happening today?' The answer is very simple: 'It is the one you don't know about!'
Darrin Hoke is the director of surveillance at L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hoke has also held various positions in security management, investigations and law enforcement, and has developed a number of surveillance classes and programs over the past 10 years as a regular instructor with the University of Nevada, Reno gaming management division.
For as long as casinos have been around there have been people trying to cheat them. Casinos dedicate a lot of resources to catching cheaters, and they are usually pretty good at doing so.
However, throughout history there have been a few cases of people who have won fortunes by cheating.
Many of these have been caught eventually, but some of them have gotten away with it completely. Of course, the most successful cheaters are those that we have never heard of and never will.
On this page we will look at some of the famous cheaters and the methods they used to cheat, scam, or hustle casinos out of substantial sums of money.
Tommy Glenn Carmichael
Carmichael is one of the most successful slot machine cheats, although he has spent time in prison for his crimes. Free money online casinos no deposit. He began cheating slot machines in 1980 when he used a metal device that was inserted into the coin slot and then triggered a payout.
When the big casinos started updating their slots with newer machines, Carmichael found his device no longer worked with them.
As a result he moved to the smaller gambling establishments in Las Vegas that still used older machines. He was eventually caught and sentenced to five years in prison.
This sentence failed to act as a deterrent though, and Carmichael resumed his cheating upon his release in 1987. Slot machine technology had advanced during his spell in prison and therefore he had to change his methods.
Carmichael bought one of the new machines and set about designing a new device that he could use to cheat. He came up with something that has since been called the monkey paw, or slider.
The principle was the same as his original device; it was inserted into the coin slot and caused the release of coins from the machines. He used it successfully until technology advanced again and he once more had to refine his methods.
He bought one of the new electronic slot games and again developed a way to beat them.
It worked so well that Carmichael made money from selling it to other cheaters, as well as using it himself.
Perhaps inevitably, Carmichael was eventually arrested for using the wand in 1996. Charges were dropped on that occasion, but he was arrested again in 1998 and once more in 1999. He pled guilty to running an illegal gambling enterprise and was sentenced to more prison time.
He is now banned from playing in casinos, but he does work with them producing anti-cheating devices.
Richard Marcus has been labeled as one of the greatest cheaters in the history of gambling. That isn't unreasonable, given that he made a lot of money and never got caught. The only reason anyone knows about his cheating exploits is because he chose to write a book about his life after he had made enough money and stopped cheating.
Marcus named his method of cheating the 'Savannah,' and it was in theory quite simple. It took an awful lot of courage and a fair amount of skill.
It was very similar to the past-posting cheating techniques that had been used, but with one key difference. Traditional past-posters would add chips to a winning bet using sleight of hand, but Marcus did it the other way round. He would remove chips from a losing bet.
He would go up to the roulette table and place a couple of chips down as his bet. The top chip would be a $5 chip, or some other small denomination, but underneath would be a higher value chip.
He placed the top chip in a way that the bottom chip could not be seen. If his bet lost, he would grab his chips (which you are not actually allowed to do, hence the drunken act) and fling them at the dealer. During this move he would swap the higher value chip for another $5 chip.
If, however, his bet won then he would make a big deal of celebrating. Invariably the dealer would be a little confused, assuming he had just staked two $5 chips. At this point Marcus would point out the fact that the chip underneath was more valuable.
Because he had legitimately placed the bet, even if surveillance was checked by casino security they would find nothing wrong. He was effectively cheating on his losing bets rather than his winning ones, and it's winning bets that tend to be scrutinized.
Using this method he was able to win thousands on his winning bets and lose only a few dollars on his losing bets. Because of the way it worked, he managed to avoid being caught. He now works against the cheaters, consulting for casinos, and teaching them how to avoid being cheated.
In 1995, Reid McNeal hit a Keno jackpot at Bally's Park Place Casino Resort in Atlantic City, for $100,000. Suspicions were immediately raised when McNeal showed very little emotion following the win and asked to be paid in cash.
As jackpot wins of a certain size have to be verified by state gaming officials under New Jersey law, an investigation occurred as a result.
The investigation led back to Ron Harris, a computer programmer working for the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Harris was responsible for finding bugs and flaws in the software of electronic gaming machines.
It transpired that Harris had been using his position to access and modify software in slot machines to pay out substantial wins if a precise sequence of coins were inserted. With his accomplice he had successfully cheated thousands of dollars and gone undetected.
Casino promo codes no deposit. Using his predictions his accomplice, McNeal, could be guaranteed a jackpot win.
McNeal duly won the jackpot at Atlantic City but, as we have described above, that was the beginning of the end for the two cheats. Harris was sentenced to seven years in prison, and released after serving two.
Throughout the history of gambling scams, women have typically been used to cause diversions while their male accomplices carry out the actual scandal.
Ida Summers was different; she certainly used her beauty and charm to distract pit bosses and dealers, but she also did the cheating herself.
Back in the 1960s she became known as the Vegas Vixen for her ability to cheat Las Vegas casinos.
This involved using sleight of hand to remove and add cards to the table when required. She then progressed to adding whole decks of cards that were prearranged to ensure the house lost. These decks were known as cold decks, or coolers.
Although successful for a while, Summers was eventually caught and arrested. Gaming officials in Vegas had become suspicious here, and together with the FBI, launched an investigation.
Seeing as she only received probation rather than a custodial sentence, it seems her looks and charm may have had an effect in court too.
French woman Monique Laurent, along with her crew consisting of family and friends, managed to win over $1 million from the roulette tables at Deauville Casino. Their winning had nothing to do with luck.
But rather thanks to some sophisticated equipment and the help of a rogue roulette dealer. Considering the scam took place in 1973, it was somewhat advanced for the time.
Laurent had her crew use a roulette ball that had been tampered with to insert a radio receiver.
With 90% accuracy she could make the ball land in a group of six numbers. Other members of the crew would place the necessary bets and collect the winnings.
The casino sensed something was wrong, but they couldn't work out what the problem was. They had the roulette wheel checked and monitored the table and the dealer, but they found nothing wrong. Laurent and her crew therefore continued to rack up the winnings.
They were only caught eventually as a direct result of Laurent's beauty.
The owner of the casino took something of a shine to Laurent and made romantic overtures. She rebuffed him and he didn't take it well. He began to suspect her of wrongdoing when he noticed that she was always at the roulette table costing the casino money.
She was always seemingly alone and only appeared to be placing occasional bets. Working out that the cigarette packet might be involved he asked Laurent for a cigarette and the game was up.
Louis Colavecchio is a counterfeiter who used his skills to manufacture incredibly accurate reproductions of slot machine coins. He then used these coins in many American casinos with initially great success.
His operation was on a grand scale and he was producing thousands upon thousands of coins.
When he was eventually arrested in 1998, following an investigation after casinos had started to notice sizable surpluses of the coins in their inventories.
Law enforcement seized his stash of coins and the tools used to make them. Such was the volume of this equipment they had to rent storage facilities just to house it all.
When Colavecchio was released in 2006 he resumed his activities, but was arrested again after just a few months. He brokered a deal to reveal the secrets of his operation so that casinos could avoid being stung in this way again.
Nikrasch, also known as Dennis McAndrew, is another slot machine cheater. In fact, he is arguably the biggest known slot machine cheater in history. It has been said that he posed a serious risk to the integrity of the whole slot machine industry.
Together with his crew, it's believed that Nikrasch made over $15 million using his sophisticated methods.
There has been a lot written about Nikrasch, particularly about his downfall, and much of it's speculation. It's widely believed that he was set up by someone who knew about his operation, but he himself has admitted that he does not know who or why.
He was arrested in 1998 while trying to cheat his way to a huge jackpot in a Las Vegas casino. Subsequently, he agreed to exchange some of his secrets in return for a reduced sentence.
Nickrasch had served time in prison before, having been convicted in the 1980s for his role in cheating the mechanical slot machines of the time. As a master locksmith with mechanical expertise, he had developed a method for forcing payouts from these machines.
When he was eventually arrested in 1998, following an investigation after casinos had started to notice sizable surpluses of the coins in their inventories.
Law enforcement seized his stash of coins and the tools used to make them. Such was the volume of this equipment they had to rent storage facilities just to house it all.
When Colavecchio was released in 2006 he resumed his activities, but was arrested again after just a few months. He brokered a deal to reveal the secrets of his operation so that casinos could avoid being stung in this way again.
Nikrasch, also known as Dennis McAndrew, is another slot machine cheater. In fact, he is arguably the biggest known slot machine cheater in history. It has been said that he posed a serious risk to the integrity of the whole slot machine industry.
Together with his crew, it's believed that Nikrasch made over $15 million using his sophisticated methods.
There has been a lot written about Nikrasch, particularly about his downfall, and much of it's speculation. It's widely believed that he was set up by someone who knew about his operation, but he himself has admitted that he does not know who or why.
He was arrested in 1998 while trying to cheat his way to a huge jackpot in a Las Vegas casino. Subsequently, he agreed to exchange some of his secrets in return for a reduced sentence.
Nickrasch had served time in prison before, having been convicted in the 1980s for his role in cheating the mechanical slot machines of the time. As a master locksmith with mechanical expertise, he had developed a method for forcing payouts from these machines.
Following his time in prison he returned to Las Vegas and soon began planning a return to his cheating ways.
By this time, though, slot machines were very different. The technology was now computerized rather than mechanical and the machines were vastly more difficult to manipulate.
Slot Machine Scams Caught On Video
This didn't stop Nikrasch however, and he began to work on developing new methods for beating them. He did indeed come up with an advanced system for doing so.
His new system required a crew of people, which Nikrasch recruited using his contacts. He would visit a casino and, with members of his crew covering him from video surveillance and security personnel, he would break into a machine using an untraceable method.
After he left, another member of his crew would then come and win the jackpot: seeming legitimate. It's not known for sure how many times Nikrasch pulled this off before he was caught. Equally, no-one knows how long he might have been able to get away with it if had he not been set up.
Although Brennan is a thief rather than a cheater, he deserves to be mentioned here for the simplicity and apparent success of his heist. Brennan was a cashier at Stardust Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
In 1992 as he was leaving work, Brennan decided to fill a bag with half a million dollars in cash and chips. He calmly walked out of the casino and has never been seen since.
There have been rumors that he was killed by an accomplice who didn't want to split the proceeds, but there has never been any evidence to back this up.
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The common belief is that he is still alive, somewhere in the world, enjoying his ill-gotten gains.
