Online Casino

For as long as humans have known how to gamble, they have devised ways of cheating to win more money than they could by playing it straight. 

Players that are not content to be bound by the rules of the gambling games they are involved in set about trying to bend or break those rules by inventing methods of cheating in order to win more often than the odds would allow for. Those who cheat do so in the majority of cases to win more money either from casinos or in the case of games like poker, from their opponents. In rarer cases, some cheaters do it just for the sheer thrill of breaking the rules and seeing if they can and how long they can get away with it without being caught.

Either way, cheating is a means of taking money from someone else by underhand means and in some cases is illegal, as has been highlighted in a recent case of a poker cheat who was caught palming chips and placing them after the end of the betting round to improve his winnings. He was arrested and charged, narrowly escaping a 5 year prison sentence and a $750 fine which the judge suspended, instead giving him a two year probation order and a criminal record.

Here we look at some of the better known kinds of gambling cheats that have been perpetrated in the never ending cat and mouse game they play with games of chance.

Roulette

An illegal but common cheat in roulette is known as past posting where players place chips on the winning number or line after the wheel has been spun. They do this by distracting the croupier or disguising the placement using sleight of hand and taking a chance the security cameras don't spot the ruse.

Mechanical Slot Machines

Since the first slots machines were invented, enterprising players have devised ways of making them pay out more than they were designed to. The earliest ways of fooling the machines was to use slugs, coin shaped pieces of metal instead of real coins to gain extra spins for free. Another method was to insert a thin wire through the coin slot to manipulate the internal reel mechanism or to force open the coin bank. 

Electronic Slot Machines

Modern slot machines no longer use mechanical reels, but computer programs and their coin mechanisms are sophisticated and almost impossible to tamper with. But that doesn't stop the cheats from devising ways to manipulate the machines. All sorts of gadgets from laser wands to microwave emitters have been used to try to over ride the programming and force additional jackpot payouts.

Dice Tricks

Of all the casino games that make use of dice, craps has to be the most popular. This is not such an easy game to cheat as it involves switching the house dice for a set of weighted or otherwise tampered with dice that will roll a certain way and produce more of a certain result. There have also been reports of shooters who have perfected their shooting technique to produce more favourable outcomes, but there has been no hard proof this really exists.

Card Tricks

Blackjack and poker cheats have long been known to mark the cards in a certain way so they know what their opponents or the dealer is holding. Methods of card marking have become ever more sophisticated from the old ways of using fingernail marks, alcohol or tiny ink blots to whole decks of cards with specially printed backs. Nowadays, there are invisible marker pens with ink that can be "seen" using certain lighting to special dyes.

Blackjack Card Counting

While card counting in blackjack is not a true cheat, it is still viewed as such by casinos who take a very dim view of the practice. Card counting is the technique where a player counts the cards that have been played, giving them a much better idea of what is left in the deck. This increases the odds of predicting what will be dealt next and betting accordingly to increase winnings. It was made famous my media coverage of the MIT team who took this technique to the next level to fool casino security and get away with millions of dollars. The popular movie "21" was based on this story.  

Pai Gow Poker

This form of casino table poker is rapidly growing in popularity along with the cheaters who try to beat this game. They do it by working in teams and switching out cards to make better hands to beat the dealer and take the pot.

Online Poker

A recent scandal that involved cheats in online poker rooms was brought to light by the persistence of the players who believed they had been cheated. It transpired that the cheats had access to super user accounts that allowed them to "see" the hands of their opponents and bet accordingly. The scam was shut down when it came to light that ex-employees of certain poker rooms had retained their passwords and assurances were given that this could not happen again.

While casinos and online gambling sites may be doing everything they can to stop the cheats, for every door closed another one will be opened. The more sophisticated the security becomes, the more devious the cheats will be to get around it, because the rewards will always justify the effort.