The secretive world of casino cheaters, the seedy underbelly of the gambling industry, is typically associated with poker and table games.
Cheats physically manipulate cards, dice, wheels, and chips to gain an unfair advantage over the house. But cheaters have long targeted machine games like the slots, too. Ever since the first “one-armed bandits” of old hit saloon floors in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, cheats have endeavored to trigger jackpots and payouts unfairly.
The earliest mechanical slot machines on the market accepted nickels, prompting cheaters to melt down cheap metal and fashion counterfeit coins known as “slot slugs.” These tricked the game into offering a free spin. When dimes became the coin of choice, they filed down pennies to the circumference of a 10-cent piece, thus “earning” a nine-cent rebate on every spin.
Slot cheats also liked to drill a hole through genuine coins. They would tie it to some fishing line, play the coin, and let it fall just far enough to trigger a spin. Then, they would pull it back out and repeat the process to play for free.
Slot machine cheating devices can either be special instruments or computer software that can be used to rob a slot machine. These tools can cost only a few cents or thousands of dollars depending on how sophisticated and complex they are. Many efficient tools can be bought on the black market.
Eventually, slot machine manufacturers countered those efforts with a device called the “coin escalator,” which displayed previously played coins in a window for all to see. When the operator spotted slugs, filed down pennies, or an insufficient number of wagers in the coin escalator, they knew a cheater was in their midst.
As the mechanical three-reel slots of old gave way to electronic video slots, coin-based machines were replaced by those which accept cash bills or barcoded casino vouchers. Manufacturers also replaced the drum reel setup with complex random number generators (RNGs) that “shuffled” the reels into seemingly infinite combinations.
These technological advancements stemmed the tide of slot cheating for a while, but gamblers who try to get over on the house are relentless if nothing else. Cheaters found more creative ways, engaging in a back and forth crusade with the casinos that continues to this day.
In the past, I’ve taken the time to write up guides on the various ways to cheat casino games, including poker, blackjack, roulette, and craps. But I’ve also included very serious reasons why you should never try them. In this guide, you’ll find five ways you can cheat when playing slot machines circa 2019 and beyond, along with why readers should never attempt it.
1 – Flashing a “Light Wand” to Fool the Machine’s Payout Sensor and Triggering a Jackpot
If you’ve ever heard of the “top-bottom joint,” the “kickstand,” or the “monkey paw,” congratulations! You know more about slot machine cheating than you probably should. But you probably also know about Tommy Glenn Carmichael, the so-called “Godfather of Slot Machine Cheats.”
Carmichael, a former television repairman who parlayed his technical skills into a career as a professional cheat, invented all three of those devices used to fool a mechanical slot’s sensors into unloading its coin hopper on command.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times conducted back in 2003, convicted slot thief Jerry Criner spoke of Carmichael in reverent tones:
“A legend. He’s the greatest mind as far as developing cheating tools.”
As for the man himself, Carmichael told the newspaper he was but a humble tinkerer who never said no to a challenge:
“Figure out how a machine counts money and then work your way into the machine. We got to playing around, and I could see where it was pretty easy to do. Give me a slot machine and I’ll beat it.”
When the electronic slots and their sensitive sensors used to detect lights and lasers became the norm, Carmichael wasted no time in purchasing an IGT brand machine for himself. Almost immediately, his ingenious mind went to work deconstructing the sensor array. Before long, Carmichael had developed his latest cheating tool, the “light wand.”
Here’s how Carmichael described his light wand epiphany, which occurred as he tricked a casino employee into providing access to an IGT machine’s inner workings:
“The second I opened it up, I knew how to beat it. He told me so much I thought he had called the law. I thought he was trying to stall us.”
Mark Robinson, the former manager of the Nevada Gambling Control Board’s Electronic Services Division, told the LA Times:
“The light would shine in there and be so bright that the sensor would be blinded, causing the hopper to not realize it was paying out the coins.”
Wielding nothing more than a camera battery and a miniaturized lightbulb, Carmichael went to work, bilking casinos from coast to coast out of $10,000 or more per day.
Why You Shouldn’t Fool the Payout Sensors
Like all swindlers, however, Carmichael’s refusal to walk away a “winner” led to his downfall. He was caught deploying a light wand to win jackpots in 1996 and again in 1998, before fleeing Las Vegas for Atlantic City. But his reputation preceded him, and private detectives employed by casinos there quickly spotted Carmichael and took him down.
The feds stripped Carmichael of every last penny from his ill-gotten gains, sentenced him to one year in prison, and placed him on extended probation. That’s reason enough to avoid the light wand “hack,” as is the method’s relatively outdated practicality in the modern age.
2 – Recording Spins on a Smartphone to Crack a Slot’s Randomization Pattern
This scam is so elegant and effective that casinos and slot machine manufacturers alike still haven’t been able to stop it.
During the 2000s, international slot makers Novomatic and Aristocrat Leisure began receiving disturbing reports from their respective casino clientele. Apparently, machines from both manufacturers had been observed paying out small to medium-sized payouts far more often than their preprogrammed odds should’ve allowed.
Comprehensive reviews and investigations were conducted to audit the machines in question, but engineers and analysts could find no trace of physical manipulation.
In 2011, Novomatic issued the following statement to client casinos to warn them about potential weaknesses in its slots “pseudo random number generators” (PRNGs):
“Through targeted and prolonged observation of the individual game sequences as well as possibly recording individual games, it might be possible to allegedly identify a kind of ‘pattern’ in the game results.”
As it turns out, a slot’s RNG isn’t technically randomized because it relies on manmade inputs, such as the second hand of the machine’s internal clock, to generate its seemingly random results. From the average player’s perspective, the results will definitely appear random over both short- and long-term sessions.
But as Novomatic admitted in its internal memo, the “pseudo” nature of a PRNG ensures that detectable patterns can be discerned from the reels’ final alignment, provided a player knew what to watch for.
A professional computer hacker known only as “Alex” was one such player, a gifted mathematical mind capable of cracking convoluted coded algorithms in his head. After deciphering the codes behind a particular model of Novomatic slot machine, then the Aristocrat Mark IV model, Alex designed a computer program to predict exactly when players should press the “SPIN” button.
Alex formed a team of players and taught them to use iPhone cameras to secretly record a few dozen low-stakes spins. This footage was then uploaded to Alex’s computer, which crunched the patterns onscreen to determine, down to the millisecond, when the “SPIN” button should be pressed to trigger a winner.
From there, all Alex had to do was send an automated text message timed with a 0.25-second delay to his cheater’s phone, thus providing the average human’s reaction time as a window. A quarter of a second later, with the stakes now increased significantly, the player would press “SPIN” and watch the screen light up for a sizable score.
Why You Shouldn’t Crack a Slot’s Randomization Pattern
Both companies acknowledge that their machines are vulnerable to Alex’s version of slot hacking. But as he pointed out in an interview with Wired magazine in 2017, his scheme isn’t technically considered cheating because nobody physically manipulates the machine:
“We, in fact, do not meddle with the machines – there is no actual hacking taking place. My agents are just gamers, like the rest of them. Only they are capable of making better predictions in their betting… Yes, that capability is gained through my technology, it’s true. But why should it be against the law? On the basic level, it’s like using a calculator for counting faster and more accurately, rather than relying on one’s natural capacity.”
Alex himself was never caught, thanks to his identity concealing skills and Russian residency, but several of his “agents” have been apprehended all over the world. As for the mastermind himself, Alex failed in convincing Aristocrat to hire him on as a security consultant.
Today, he makes a living selling his tech for five-figures a pop on the dark web rather than resort to cheating himself.
So, unless you’re a savant like him with otherworldly math skills and the “Rain Man” ability to read PRNGs in your sleep, or have $20,000 to spend on a slot-cheating system, hacking the game isn’t a great idea.
3 – Using Computers and Advanced Tech Skills to Rig the Machine for Instant Jackpots
Another case of computer engineering knowledge becoming the cheat’s tool of choice involves a fair share of mystery more than 20 years later.
Beginning in 1996, former locksmith Dennis Nikrasch used the “brute force” style of computer hacking to essentially break the machine’s payout sensors. Using a blocker to screen the surveillance cameras, Nikrasch took less than a minute to pick the lock, open the machine’s interface, and attach a device that manipulated the reels’ RNG. Just like that, Nikrasch was gone like a ghost, leaving his blocker behind to play the game until an inevitable jackpot was triggered shortly thereafter.
Speaking with the Las Vegas Sun, former chief of the Enforcement Division of the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) Keith Copher offered begrudging respect when referencing Nikrasch’s scam:
“He had the most sophisticated system we’ve ever seen. We don’t know that he’s passed it along, and if he has, he’d better tell us.”
J. Gregory Damm, the assistant US Attorney who ultimately prosecuted Nikrasch for his litany of crimes, told the newspaper the use of a proxy helped hinder casino security systems:
“He would be in the casino a very short period of time. He would fix the machine, then leave. He wasn’t present when the jackpot was hit.”
Why You Shouldn’t Rig Slot Machines
Nikrasch absconded with more than $6 million in stolen slot funds before his run was cut short, sending him to prison for seven years.
Once again, the biggest reason to avoid this slot cheating method is impracticability, because Nikrasch took his tech secrets to the grave.
4 – Watching for Players Who Leave Money on the Machine So You Can Spin for Free
Whether you count this one as cheating is up to your own moral code, but what do you do when a neighboring player leaves a few bucks in the next machine over?
You see them take their Player’s Card, and even leave the casino, so you’re sure they’re not coming back for that last dollar or two. Do you slide over and play the free spins?
If you’re like Colorado resident and gambling man “Dan” (his last name hasn’t been made public), you take your shot at winning a jackpot on the forgetful player’s dime.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Other Players’ Money
While gambling in a Central City casino two years ago, Dan saw a fellow slot player leave $2 on a nearby machine. After playing two spins and winning nothing, Dan continued his own game for awhile before security arrived and escorted him to the dreaded back room.
Here’s how Dan described the scene to his local KDVR News station after the ordeal was over:
“There was no intent to steal from anybody. I had no idea. I go upstairs to the third floor into a dirty little room and someone tells me I stole $2 from the casino. They said they had it all on camera. I was guilty, I guess. You’re certainly not stealing it from the casino because it wasn’t theirs to begin with. There are certainly times where there are ‘laws,’ but they are not morally or ethically correct.”
Dan was charged under Colorado Statute 12-47.1-823(1)(c), which covers various forms of casino cheating. In this case, the casino claims ownership over any lost, forgotten, or unused funds in its facility, so Dan technically stole $2 from the house and not the other player.
He was arrested, charged with criminal conduct, levied with $250 in fines, forced to pay for FBI criminal background checks, placed on probation, and banned from all Colorado casinos for a full year.
And while Dan’s case might seem like an outlier, consider that Colorado charged nearly 1,000 players for stealing slot funds in 2017 alone. Similar laws are on the books in Las Vegas and elsewhere, so when you see a few dollars flashing on an unclaimed machine, think twice before trying to turn somebody else’s money into your life-changing jackpot moment.
5 – Counterfeiting Bills or “Shaving” Coins to Trick the Machine Into a Free Spin
I covered the concept of counterfeit coin slugs in the introduction, and nowadays, you’ll only find a handful of old-school coin-operated slots in Downtown Las Vegas. You can blame infamous counterfeiter Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio for that development.
Why You Shouldn’t Counterfeit Bills or Coins
During his reign as the East Coast’s preeminent slot cheat, Colavecchio used genuine steel dies from U.S. Mint printing presses to trick the machines. That ploy wound up resulting in a seven-year prison bid, leaving the formerly flush “Coin” Colavecchio penniless and out of options.
After his release, Colavecchio was forced to adapt to a brave new world of cash and voucher-operated slots. Predictably, he tried to expand his operation into counterfeit $100 bills, hoping to hit high-stakes machines for six-figure scores.
And just as predictably, the U.S. Secret Service swooped in to arrest the now 77-year old Colavecchio in 2018.
Counterfeiting is one of the most serious federal crimes imaginable, and when you add in casino surveillance, this cheating recipe just doesn’t add up.
Conclusion
Slot machines probably inspire so many cheating attempts simply because of the volatile gameplay they offer. When winners can come few and far between, and losing by session’s end is a statistical certainty barring a big jackpot, grinding the slots can get downright depressing in the worst of times.
Cheaters who refuse to accept the “boom and bust” dynamic of the slots will always try to gain the upper hand, but as these five entries make clear, casinos are always one step ahead of the culprits.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.The hacker with the nickname “Alex”, who lives in St. Petersburg, claims to have found a way to hack a slot machine and get huge winnings. He says that it’s really possible to hack a slot machine, doesn’t matter if it is online or a physical slot. Also he says that they bring him 250 thousand dollars a week. Alex also states that it easy to hack a slot machine of one particular developer, Aristocrat Leisure Limited, and even plans to sell them his algorithm of hacking, for millions of course. However, the company reacted very calmly to his statement.
The Russian hacker told all this in an interview with the American technical journal Wired. He declares that for 8 years he has won money in various online casinos, turning them for himself into personal ATMs. It is not clear why, having such a colossal source of income, he decided to get rid of it. It’s more like that he does not know how to hack slot machine systematically. He tries to ensure developers that he can and tries to get money from them.
Let’s see if there is a way to hack slot machine and what exactly Alex invented.
How to beat slot machine according to Alex’s theory?
The identity of Alex is not established. He calls himself a programmer, a mathematician and a graduate of the Academy of the Federal Security Service of Russia, naturally, without providing this evidence. The hacker also says that he once worked at the military university in St. Petersburg, specializing in teaching cryptography and hardware hacking.
Hacker told to American journal Wired about his own unique method of reverse engineering of the RNG. If to simplify, he says that he has uncovered a way of generating random numbers in Aristocrat slots and knows how they will behave. Also he can hack Aristocrat slots in land based casinos.
To hack slot machine, Alex needs an agent network
Also, Alex talked about his own network of agents, allegedly legion, and who work all over the world, shooting video with the help of mobile gadgets about the work of a variety of slots. It is noteworthy that he does have “agents”, and four people from this list in the US already have a criminal record for fraud.
Video from various gambling places of the planet were collected and immediately analyzed in Russia. The hacker claims that his observations made it possible to reveal when payments in games will be at their maximum. In fact, he is sure that he has found a method how to hack slot machine.
The results of the video analysis were immediately sent to the “agent” through a special application along with the winning strategy of the game. And as a result, the “agents” won, collecting a common bank for 250 thousand dollars a week.
The best success “agents” were those who conducted the shooting of slots as imperceptibly as possible. For this work, people were specially selected who understood the importance of acting secretly, knew how to behave correctly so as not to cause suspicion. Most of the “agents” of the hacker look confident and respectable. But even in case of arrest for unauthorized filming in a casino hacker guarantees them protection and legal support.
Alex decided to close such organized and profitable business, which brought him income for 8 years. The hacker demanded from the Australian developer of the slot machines, Aristocrat, several million for his method of slot machine hacking.
Aristocrat: to hack slot machine in the Internet or casino is impossible
Aristocrat Leisure Limited has been working in the gambling industry for more than 60 years. Company which is developing and maintaining land based and virtual casinos, confirmed it has received a letter from hacker. In it, Alex reports that he knows how to hack slot machine of the developer, and therefore requires money for the non-disclosure of this information.
The hacker offers not just to give his way of slot machine hacking, but also promises to turn off the agent network.
Alex himself calls his proposal a deal that will allow to stop compromising the Aristocrat trademark. As he believes, this service is estimated in an eight-digits amount. As a gesture of goodwill, he not only tells how to hack the slot machines, but also helps developers to eliminate weaknesses to make the product inaccessible to hacking.
To confirm the seriousness of their knowledge, hacker sent the developer a breakdown of his pseudo-generator. With its help he can hack the 50 Lions machine of the company or Heart of Gold. To persuade Aristocrat Leisure Limited to make a decision in its favor, Alex threatens to surrender information to competitors. Also he can simply put their workings on the network. Such a move, in his opinion, will lead to the fact that everyone can hack slot machine.
The way to hack slot machine by Aristocrat is a myth
In the fall of 2016, Alex contacted a representative of Aristocrat Leisure Limited. Head of Compliance, Tracy Elkerton, talked to the hacker on the phone.
She expressed interest in a method that allows Alex to win a slightly larger amount of money.
“It is very unlikely that Aristocrat will pay for information,” Tracy said. “It’s just not how we work. We have developed a solution to promote our products, and we are comfortable with this solution. ”
A company spokesman said that Aristocrat Leisure Limited has zero tolerance for unethical behavior. And this means that no one will pay a million for “help in eliminating weak points of slots”. Moreover, Alex did not provide any actual evidence that his way to hack slot machine works.
How To Play Slot Machines
Alex’s attitude to online casinos and players
Alex is cynical enough about the casino and the culture of gambling. Gamblers are stupid he thinks. He calls himself Robin Hood, who takes money from the rich (meaning the casino). But he didn’t say a word about how the network Robin Hood helps poor people. Here are a few quotes from his Wired interview.
“My job is simply to help myself and people to take money from the casino. Just a small counterbalance to the global gaming system, where the casino always wins. ”
“Most gambling seemed to me nothing more than a tax on stupidity.”
“My agents are just gamers, like everyone else. Only they are able to make better predictions in the stakes. Yes, this ability is achieved thanks to my technology, it’s true. But why should this be illegal? At a basic level, it’s like using a calculator to count faster and more accurately, instead of doing it all in your head. ”
“Sometimes I fantasize about just giving away my way to hack slot machine to people. This would lead to a “zombie apocalypse”: equipped with information and software, player using a simple smartphone will be able to turn slot machine into ATM. ”
Conclusion: it is impossible to beat slot machine in an unfair way
The story of Alex and his way to hack slot machine made a lot of noise. But it didn’t affect Aristocrat Company.
The developer’s representatives admitted that a technique was found that slightly increases the player’s advantage. But obviously not so much to worry about it and to hide the way from the public.
Further, Alex plans to apply with a similar proposal to IGT, since he claims that he understood the algorithm of the RNG of their Atronic slot machine. However, as in the case of Aristocrat, hacker does not have any evidence of systemic major gains.
How To Cheat A Slot Machine Online Game
All this history leads to a natural conclusion: it is impossible to predict the algorithm of the RNG operating on licensed slot machines. In addition, in each new slot developers improve the generator and its protection.