"The House always wins" is a saying many players are all too familiar with. However, the house turns into a victim when cheaters and scammers enter the picture. During our "Who wants to win Freeplay/Onboard Credit" game (played similar to Who wants to be a Millionaire), the URComped team answers trivia questions about crazy scandals that took place in casinos. To join in on the fun, tune into our Facebook LIVE on Thursdays at 4:35 pm CST and put your answers in the comments for your chance to win Freeplay or onboard credit.
1. Two Inventions Steal Millions
For almost 20+ years, Tommy Carmichael stole from casinos by inventing ways to rig slot machines. His two inventions were the monkey’s paw, which was a wire he would insert through the machine's payout chute to trip the microswitch which caused the machine to release a jackpot, and Light Wand, which could blind a slot machine's sensor and trick the game into spitting out coins. In 2001, Carmichael was caught by the FBI and served 326 days in prison, three years' probation, and a lifetime ban from entering casinos.
2. Coded Machines Pay Huge Jackpots
An anti-cheating software engineer for Nevada Gaming Control Board, Ron Harris, secretly coded 30 machines to pay HUGE jackpots when his accomplices inserted coins in a certain sequence. After winning and walking away with over hundreds of thousands of dollars, Harris was eventually caught when one of his accomplices was busted. Harris pleaded guilty in 1996 and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
3. Counterfeiting for the Win
Louis Colavecchio, known as “The Coin,” used counterfeit slot machine coins to win thousands of dollars from Las Vegas casinos without betting a dime of his own, real money. In 1997, he was arrested with 750 lbs of coins in his car, and he was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. Then was arrested again at age 76 for counterfeiting $240,000 worth of $100 bills.
4. Walk Away with over $500,000
John Kane unintentionally discovered a bug in video poker machines that allowed players to replay hands with different base wagers. That meant he could sit at a machine for hours betting the minimum, and when he eventually scored a jackpot-winning hand, he could replay the hand with a max bet, earning him a payout of $10,000+. Kane and his accomplice were eventually arrested, but both walked free with over $500,000 of winnings after federal prosecutors failed to justify charges. Kane’s attorney stated, "All these guys did is simply push a sequence of buttons that they were legally entitled to push."