Lately we have been sharing with you some basic but amazingly innovative methods how to win at slots. But what about the people who haven’t got the time or patience to wait for their big win to come around, and result to more drastic measures instead? Who we’re referring to is scammers and slot machine cheats who have managed to get one up over the casinos in the past, and rake in unfathomable amounts of cash in the process. These methods are clever, and they blew our minds on the lengths people would actually go to cheat lady luck. So today we thought we would share with you our Top 5 Slot Machine Cheats that have successfully managed to do just that. We hope you enjoy it!
Shaved Coins Slot Machine Cheats
First in our list of infamous slot cheats, is the old “shaved coin” trick. And when we say shaved, we literally mean players were sawing down the edges of the coins! It all started when slot machine developers created a smarter system for identifying coins in an effort to combat the counterfeit ones. They came up with an optic verification sensor system that would reject any coin that wasn’t real. Or so the casinos thought… People well-versed in the optical coin verification system figured out that shaving down a coin could trick the system into thinking an actual coin was played.
The shaved coin was inserted and granted a slot machine credit—before it was rejected. Scammers simply inserted the same shaved coin multiple times to rack up credits. The machine programmers caught onto the scam and developed a second system that would measure size and weight, but not all machines relied on both pieces of technology. Fortunately it’s much more difficult to get away with now, simply because modern light sensors now check the entire surface of the coin. Including the sides of course!
Top-Bottom Joint
If you’ve ever heard of the name Tommy Carmichael, you’ll know that this guy was notorious for cracking mechanical slot machines back in the day. He was also the inventor of the “light wand” which we will talk about later. But the Top-Bottom Joint trick came about when Tommy the hustler developed a tool which split into 2 separate parts. The tool was essentially a guitar string attached to a bent metal rod.
The rod would jam the metal contacts within the coin slot, then activate a circuit that would dispense the coins it had stored up. It basically tricked the machines into thinking that a win took place even when one didn’t… Pretty cool, right? Although in hindsight, this method of cheating feels a lot more like stealing than any of the others. It really is tantamount to lock picking! But nevertheless, a genius method even in today’s modern age.
Light Wand
Another very clever product of Mr. Carmichael is the legendary light wand. Rather than tripping an actual switch, the light wand worked by tricking the optical sensors which could be found in electronic slot machines after they began using random number generators. It essentially blinded the sensor so it couldn’t work out how many coins had been inserted into the slot, and what it should payout as a result. This obviously meant that Carmichael was able to get the machine going from dispensing meagerness pennies, to churning out some whopping big jackpots!
Computer Chip Swap
What if you had the key to every slot machine at a casino? And what if, in a matter of just three minutes, you could swap the circuit board inside the slot machine with one that was guaranteed to hand you a jackpot? That’s exactly what one scammer named Dennis Nikrasch did. And he did it very well! His slot hacking venture began when he purchased a slot machine for his garage, so he could toy with it and work out its flaws.
He soon discovered that the chips inside the machines could be easily re-programmed so that they could rain out jackpots. He then ordered several more chips, and hired people to go around collecting as many slot machine keys as possible, before ransacking multiple casino floors. Nikrasch allegedly won over $5 million with this method before eventually getting caught and sent to jail for 8 years.
Computer Glitch Exploit
Since electronic gaming machines first emerged onto the casino market, many programmers, engineers and software gurus have successfully managed to hack the technologies these machines are powered by over the years. Many of these hackers have been known to be the actual software and game designers themselves! But, for one 90-year old named Pauline McKee, this wasn’t quite the case. She may have been no slot-hacking or code expert, but when she managed to win $41 million on a Hello Kitty machine at the Isle Casino Hotel in Waterloo one evening, it can only be said that lady Vendetta must have had her back that day!
Despite her mammoth win, casinos have been clued onto software cheaters for decades (a trick where the player can confuse the machine and manipulate stakes and patterns). Unfortunately however, Pauline’s appeal was rejected three years after filing a lawsuit against the casino. That must have felt like a kick right in her dentures!
Win without cheating
Remember, this isn’t a “how to” post. As admirable as the work of these scammers may be – many of them faced jail time as a result of their actions, and others were ordered to pay every single cent of their winnings back. The above should be used for entertainment value only, so don’t try any of this at home (or at any casino for that matter).
If you want to win at slots without having to resort to cheating, play at Slots of Vegas! We have all your favorite slots with some of the highest payouts in the industry, and we’ll even provide you with some proven, non-criminal strategies to help you maximize your chances of winning too.
