Famous Slot Cheaters – Their Methods and How They Got Caught

From counting cards to rigging machinery, some of the most famous slot cheaters have come up with inventive ways to cheat the casino. But despite their efforts, they always ended up getting caught.

One of the most famous was Tommy Glenn Carmichael, whose light wand and monkey paw helped him scam millions from casinos.

Tommy Glenn Carmichael and the “Top-Bottom Joint”

When Tommy Glenn Carmichael was a teenager, he received a surprise in his friend Ray Ming’s trunk. A slot machine and a casino cheating device were waiting for him.

He took the rtp slot device apart and examined it carefully, trying to understand how it worked. Soon, he had developed the skills to win big at casinos by scamming coins out of slots.

The top-bottom joint was a popular technique for cheating slots until the introduction of microprocessors and stricter casino security measures in the 1980s. By then, the top-bottom joint had become outdated and virtually useless

Carmichael also invented the monkey paw, a tool that could hack into slot machines and trigger a hopper’s release switch. He made thousands of dollars selling the device to other slot cheats, and by 1991, he invented the light wand, which worked on electronic slots in the same way as the monkey paw.

Ronald Dale Harris and the “Random Number Generator” Trick

In the nineties, a swashbuckling Nevadan named Ronald Dale Harris rigged a slew of slot online gacor casino video slot machines. He did it by re-programming the basic computer program with a high tech twist: surreptitiously inserting coins in a sequence that triggered a cash jackpot. 

He teamed up with his wife and two friends, and was rewarded with hundreds of thousands in cold hard cash. He was also one of the illustrious few to go the legal and moral route, serving seven years in prison for his exploits. 

Not bad for a guy who only lasted one day in Las Vegas. Eventually, Harris relocated to Atlantic City. There was a time he got to strut his stuff at the local casino. The sleazeball has left the stage, though.

Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio and Counterfeit Coins

Louis Colavecchio, also known as “The Coin,” utilized his expertise in tool-and-die making to produce top-notch imitation slot machine tokens. These tokens were so similar to the real ones that it was almost impossible to tell the difference between them.

With his counterfeit tokens, Colavecchio tricked several casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Connecticut. His scheme was successful, and he amassed considerable wealth, which allowed him to live an opulent life.

He eventually became known as the “world’s greatest counterfeiter.” After serving time for this crime, he acted as a consultant for the federal government. He was paid $18,000 to explain why his manufacturing dies outlasted those produced by the U.S. Mint. 

He also continued to gamble on the slots wearing a wig and dressing like a woman. He is now 78 and was recently diagnosed with dementia. He has been granted compassionate release from prison.

Monique Laurent and the “Sector Targeting” Method

The most audacious roulette cheating scheme of all time was devised by a beautiful lady and her handsome husband. Using high-tech equipment, the threesome scooped a whopping tally of five million francs. 

Not content with that, she and her acolytes figured out how to get around the security measures by devising a scheme in which the aforementioned ol’ fashioned roulette wheel was augmented by an impressive one armed bandit.

Using a sophisticated system, the ladies at the Deauville casino snagged what must have been an astronomical jackpot. This particular heist is most likely to be repeated by a similar sleuth in a less formal setting. As with most casino scams, the crooked lads had to be put up in a hotel for the duration of the heist, but the resulting publicity and high-profile arrests should serve as a reminder to the rest of us that casinos aren’t all sleazebags.

Dennis Nikrasch and the Computer Chip Scam

One of the more popular methods of slot cheating is to alter the computer chips that regulate payouts. Dennis Nikrasch was a locksmith who figured out how to re-program these chips and trigger payoffs any time he wanted.

He started a scam that cheated casinos of millions of dollars over the years by using his skills. He had a team of view blockers to shield him from cameras, and would open up a slot machine and swap the chip in.

Most casinos at that time secured a game’s EPROMs (the chips that contain the game’s program) with a tape seal to prevent them from being tampered with. After Nikrasch had programmed his self-made chips, he swapped them with the chips in a progressive slot at a casino and cashed in on the phony jackpot.