Statistics on Illegal Gambling around the World
Statistics on Illegal Gambling around the World
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

A huge segment of the gambling business operates contrary to the law. Illegal gambling covers the areas of gambling, poker, betting, lotteries, and other subspecies of the industry. Swindlers arrange frauds, open underground institutions, arrange illegal sweepstakes and in every possible way deceive fans of gambling. The statistical data presented in the article will help to understand the scope of the problem.

Bill Brennan's Unsolved Casino Heist
Bill Brennan's Unsolved Casino Heist
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

How do you imagine a casino robbery? Masked robbers, machine guns, safe–breakers - leave it all to Hollywood directors who shoot spectacular action movies. The most successful scammers act quietly and unnoticeably. In 1992, Bill Brennan stole half a million dollars from the famous Stardust casino in Las Vegas and seemed to disappear into thin air. Police haven't been able to find him yet. Read on about one of the most successful frauds in the history of gambling.

Unsolved Crimes in the History of Gambling
Unsolved Crimes in the History of Gambling
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Stolen money, dubious winnings, kidnapped people, murdered visitors, corrupt employees, and armed robberies often occur in gambling in any country. Often the criminals remain unpunished. This article tells about the mysterious criminal incidents in the industry.

How to Hack a Slot Machine
How to Hack a Slot Machine
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Scammers have tried to hack slots since the first games appeared. Initially, they hacked the mechanical slot machines, then switched to automatic devices, and later began to cheat when playing slots on random number generators. Fraudsters also do not shy away from online casinos. We will tell you about the traditional methods of hacking slots, but we want to warn you not to use them.

Tommy Carmichael, a Legendary Slot Breaker
Tommy Carmichael, a Legendary Slot Breaker
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Tommy Carmichael is inscribed in the history of Las Vegas as a skillful slot cheater. Over the years, he managed to cheat when playing slot machines and video poker games at most casinos. Together with his accomplices, he stole several million dollars. Our article, available on the portal Casinoz, describes the famous cheater's life, methods, techniques, and unique tools he invented.

An Audacious Scam in the Style of Ocean's Eleven
An Audacious Scam in the Style of Ocean's Eleven
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Do you think that scammers are marking cards or using secret signs? These tricks are being used only by low-skilled fraudsters. Even contact lenses and microcameras are out of date. Real professionals choose modern technologies, attacking casinos from unexpected sides. Crown Casino in Melbourne, which lost thirty-three million dollars, became a victim of such fraudsters.

Scam in the Ritz Casino
Scam in the Ritz Casino
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

In 2004, three gamblers from Eastern Europe beat the Ritz Casino in London and kept a couple of million pounds, using mobile phones and a computer to predict winning numbers. The police arrested the fraudsters. Their guilt was practically proven, but the subtleties of the British legislation did not let bring the scammers to justice or at least take the money back. The article tells about that extraordinary case.

Baccarat Cutter Gang
Baccarat Cutter Gang
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Many land-based casinos all over the world suffered from the actions of the "Cutter Gang." Working as a team, its members beat the gambling houses at baccarat. They used tiny cameras to track the sequence of cards in the decks. Interestingly, none of them was caught red-handed, so none of the scammers was arrested. They were not even fined.

Cheaters and Dealers in Pai Gow John's Gang
Cheaters and Dealers in Pai Gow John's Gang
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Phuong Quoc Truong, also known as Pai Gow John, organized a scam at American casinos and deceived them while playing blackjack. He cooperated with several accomplices, including specially trained dealers. The croupiers dealt cards in a particular order, and the organizer of fraud gave his partners unique signs on how to act. Details of the scam are discussed in the article.

Roulette Scam at US Casinos
Roulette Scam at US Casinos
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

A gang of fraudsters cheated U.S. casinos, stealing chips at roulette tables. The basic principles that helped them to stay afloat for a long time were an elaborate scheme of scams, well-orchestrated actions, lack of greed, and the ability to select suitable gambling clubs. The article tells about their achievements and explains why they succeeded.

The Dark Side of Casinos - Part 2
The Dark Side of Casinos - Part 2
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

We continue to tell our readers about all kinds of fraud carried out by unscrupulous gambling operators and casino employees to enrich themselves by illegal means. You will learn about the methods of money laundering, various forms of fraud, tax evasion, and so on.

The Dark Side of Casinos
The Dark Side of Casinos
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

How such activities as extortion, insider trading, drug trafficking, and prostitution are related to casinos? Well, actually they have a direct relation to casinos. Dirty money obtained by crime flows into casinos, where it is converted into clean and respectable winnings. How does this happen? The portal Casinoz offers its readers an article that deals with the ways of money laundering with the help of casinos and provides examples of the use of such methods in practice.

Straperlo is a Symbol of a Financial Scandal at the Highest Level
Straperlo is a Symbol of a Financial Scandal at the Highest Level
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

You have probably never heard of a mechanical roulette called Straperlo. However, this model played an important role in the political life of one European country in the first half of the twentieth century. Taking into consideration the fact that this device was a fraud, its story ended barely after its beginning, but it made a lot of noise and led to serious changes in policy.

Louis Colavecchio, a genius of forging casino chips
Louis Colavecchio, a genius of forging casino chips
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Fake banknotes is laborious and complicated work, because each banknote has many degrees of protection. But making fake casino chips is much easier. Louis Colavecchio was engaged in making them in almost industrial scale and achieved a fantastic success in this field. His chips were printed by makeshift equipment and it was almost impossible to distinguish them from the originals. It brought huge profits to this cheater.

Richard Marcus, the Notorious Casino Cheater
Richard Marcus, the Notorious Casino Cheater
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Most casino cheaters end their careers in jail or die before they age. But such a sad fate awaits not all fraudsters. Some stop this dangerous activity right in time. One of them is the famous Richard Marcus. For decades, he fooled dozens of casinos and became famous as the author of several books about cheating in the gambling industry.

Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo. Who says that you can not win at roulette?
Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo. Who says that you can not win at roulette?
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

This guy is certainly not in the list of top cheaters , although the casino where he systematically won took him to court and accused of cheating. However, it did not work out because Gonzalo Garcia- Pelayo was acquitted. He won in different places over a half million euros is not quite standard, but also not an original way. Read on about how he managed to win at roulette.

Ron Harris, a Gambler Who Knew How to Hit Jackpots
Ron Harris, a Gambler Who Knew How to Hit Jackpots
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

If you work in a department supervising gambling operators, have access to the source code of pseudorandom number generators, and are experienced in computer programming, you can learn how to beat casinos. Anyway, Ronald Harris succeeded in it for some time. Yet, later he got caught and was enjailed due to his stupidity.

Fox from Vegas
Fox from Vegas
Alessandro Alessandro
Casino Scams

Ida Summers has succeeded greatly in cheating in blackjack. First she stole a card and put it into the game at the right moment, and then learned how to replace the whole deck. She also knew how to use her beauty on the casino employees by cranking their portfolio. Read in this article about the story of this amazing woman.

The Eudaemons, the Physicists Who Beat Roulette
The Eudaemons, the Physicists Who Beat Roulette
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Can you use a computer to calculate the results of roulette spins? We will not go into a long argument because back in the seventies, a group of young enthusiasts did it. They named themselves The Eudaemons and were not the first to beat roulette, but this does not belittle their achievements. Moreover, they were not going to become professional gamblers and just wanted to experiment.

Brent Eli Morris
Brent Eli Morris
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Most casino cheaters, sooner or later, are caught and end up in prison. Brent Eli Morris was a talented con man who skillfully past-posted bets in craps. He worked (if it can be considered work) almost every day and was finally sent to jail.

The Cheater of Noble Blood
The Cheater of Noble Blood
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Baccarat is traditionally considered a game of aristocrats. However, it is connected with it a scandal involving the future King of Great Britain Edward VII. In fact, he did not cheat himself, but his close friend did. Moreover, the Prince of Wales was forbidden to gamble and that incident became a huge disgrace. It came into history as the royal baccarat scandal.

Duke Wilson, the Genius from Classon's Team
Duke Wilson, the Genius from Classon's Team
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Casino games always attract numerous tricksters. Among them, there are all sorts of people. Sometimes genius gamblers are those who previously did not even think about such a career. Something similar happened to Duke Wilson, who was a marijuana dealer and became a professional roulette fraudster. He performed cheats that went down in history under the dealers' noses.

Canada Bill Jones, a Legendary Cardsharp
Canada Bill Jones, a Legendary Cardsharp
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

"It is immoral to leave a fool his money," "Smith and Wesson beat four aces" - these and other phrases can be heard in many films about card cheaters. But few people know that their author was Canada Bill Jones, the famous gambler of the nineteenth century. Please read the article about the legendary card player from the Wild West.

John Soares and His Loaded Dice
John Soares and His Loaded Dice
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

John Soares was a craps virtuoso who mastered the art of dice shooting. He worked with a team of other cheaters. They used loaded dice and won tens of millions in casinos in ten years. Later, he shared his experience in the book named after that trick, Loaded Dice.

Famous Casino Slot Cheaters
Famous Casino Slot Cheaters
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Attempts to break slot machines started soon after the first models became available to the public. The first slots were mechanical, and the hacking methods were the same. When slot machines became computer-based, the approach to cheating them changed dramatically.

Charles Wells, the Gambler Who Broke the Bank
Charles Wells, the Gambler Who Broke the Bank
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Have you ever heard the expression " to break the bank"? Perhaps you have even heard of a man who managed to do it. If yes, then that person is probably Charles Wells. The story of his successful game at the Monte Carlo casino is spread through almost the entire world, and even the song was written.

Mumbles, the Creator of Past Posting
Mumbles, the Creator of Past Posting
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Replacing chips is a common technique of cheating in land-based casinos. It is traditionally called past posting or pastposting. Experienced scammers do it in many ways. Do you know who invented this method? Read the article about the legendary Mumbles.

Dennis Sean McAndrew, the Greatest Slot Cheater
Dennis Sean McAndrew, the Greatest Slot Cheater
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Name Dennis Sean McAndrew is well known for the security services of all famous casinos worldwide. The reason is that he went down in history as one of the superb hackers of slot machines. For over twenty years, he hustled slot halls successfully, having robbed them of $16 000 000.

Fake Shuffle in Baccarat
Fake Shuffle in Baccarat
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

One of the most dangerous types of casino cheating is conspiring with the dealer and managers. In this case, a chance that the cheaters are caught is much less. Several decades ago there were uncovered activities of a large group that was cheating the casino while playing baccarat, bribing dealers for these purposes.

Counterfeit Casino Chips
Counterfeit Casino Chips
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Cheaters tried to make counterfeit casino chips many times during different periods of gambling history, but few managed to do it successfully. The reason was the strict record of the chips. However, some cheaters could still do it for a long time. Charles O'Reilly, who worked in Las Vegas casinos, is especially famous in this field.

Stealing Chips from Casino Players
Stealing Chips from Casino Players
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

This type of cheating in a casino is the most ancient and may seem the simplest of all known. However, such virtuosos as Joe and Henry Classon brothers ran even this con with their unique grace and skill. Sometimes they managed to steal tens of thousands of dollars during an evening.

Chip Cup Cheat
Chip Cup Cheat
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

The cheating known as the Chip Cup is both simple and ingenious. Cheaters use a cylinder-shaped device of a stack of chips size to steal casino chips. Then they cashed them out through a rogued employee or other customers.

1005 Casino Scam
1005 Casino Scam
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Casino cheaters have lots of bet substitution tricks in their pockets. One of these scans was successfully practiced by the Classon team. It went down in history as 1005. The name is not accidental – it was the amount of bet they used.

Roselli Brothers: How Not to Pay Off Casino Debts
Roselli Brothers: How Not to Pay Off Casino Debts
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Cheating in the casino takes different forms. Cheaters don't always need to mark cards, substitute bets, or steal chips. Roselli brothers made history as fraudsters who fooled casino credit departments for a long time. Using a cunning scheme, they took loans and never paid them off.

Journalist Fraudster
Journalist Fraudster
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

This article's character worked as a newspaper reporter and posted about all dog races in the country. Bookmakers used to find out the outcome of this edition as well. The guy decided he could take advantage of that. His cheeky scam brought him good earnings, but it was a short-lived opportunity.

Substituting Chips in Craps
Substituting Chips in Craps
Denis Anipchenko Denis Anipchenko
Casino Scams

Craps is one of the loudest casino games. Many people around the table will never be shy to express their emotions. Such a situation favors cheaters because they can easily get lost in the crowd or run the con. The article tells about one such fraud.

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Famous Casino Scams and Cheats

It's hard to name the period in the history of humanity and the corner of the world where the first casino games have seen the light. But it is safe to say that cheaters appeared when people began to play for money or wager valuable things.

Gambling attracts fraudsters through the active turnover of cash and passionate players, who inevitably lose vigilance and become easy prey for scammers.

You can become a victim of the sharper not only at the underground casinos, resort restaurants or long-distance trains.

Crooks are ready to trick you even in the big gambling houses, which have CCTV cameras all around and where security monitors every customer's step.

However, dealers become the primary target of fraud at the casino more often than customers. Scammers mark cards, steal chips, increase winning bets, change the deck, hack slot machines, interfere with the roulette wheel operation, and do many other tricks that allow them to win dishonestly.

types of casino cheats

Scammers' tricks are described in articles in this section of Casinoz – the best online gambling guide.

Types of Casino Cheats

A variety of fraudulent tricks in the world of gambling strikes the imagination. In the 21st century, scammers keep using techniques invented hundreds of years ago and apply the latest achievements of science and technology.

Classifying the swindlers working in the gambling industry is difficult for some objective reasons. However, we would like to warn our readers about the main "styles" of modern casino criminals:

  • Classic cheaters follow the old methods: marked cards, "charged" dice, shuffling decks, exchanging cards between boxes, spying on the dealer's secured card, and other traditional methods known since time immemorial.
  • Chip fraudsters like to bet the chip on the winning number, increase or decrease the amount at stake after closing bets, and manipulate casino chips in other illegal ways.
  • Fans of data sharing use a variety of tricks and devices to transmit information to each other. Morse, the system of gestures, mini cameras, and sound signals, has many tricks.
  • Followers of the scientific approach call physics and mathematics for help. Using specialized gear, they calculate the trajectory of the ball on the roulette, determine the angle of the dice rebound in craps, and so on.
  • Counterfeiters make fake casino chips, use different objects instead of tokens on slots, etc.
  • Insiders are among the most vulnerable aspects of casino croupiers, pit bosses, and management. They collude with scammers and help them beat the casino. Deception options vary widely: charged decks, inflated payments, card demonstrations, and so on.
  • Hackers are the most advanced fraudsters who hack jackpot systems, calculate algorithms for pseudo-random number generators, access slot machine "brains," and deceive casinos in other ways.

Many talented cheats advocate an integrated approach. Their scams can consist of several stages involving specialists in different fields. The most striking fraud cases are described in the thematic articles at Casinoz.

On the Very Brink

We should add that some visitors do not break the law but use methods that are not welcome at the casinos. We are talking about card counters, bonus hunters, dealers, provocateurs, fans of free services, and others who visit gambling houses only for their benefit.

They cannot be prosecuted because they do not violate the formal rules of the casino or do it so skillfully that their guilt is impossible to prove.

Such customers' activities can significantly harm the house, so gambling operators create unacceptable conditions or kick them out of the casino. For example, dealers blindly demolish a few cards to drive away card counters and make them ineffective.

We do not consider players who win at the casino due to their skills to be cheaters. That's why articles about them are not included in the scams section.

Roulette Scams

Roulette fraudsters appeared as soon as casinos began offering this. Some of them went down in gambling history.

One of them is Pierre Dugal, the nineteenth-century carpenter who sneaked into the gambling houses at night and ground the roulette wheel. Also, we can't leave without attention to the legendary Charles Wells, who broke the bank on roulette in Monte-Carlo multiple times. Special mention should be made of Joseph Jagger, who terrorized a casino with an imperfect roulette.

Modern rogues also love to cheat the roulette.

  1. Some act the old-fashioned way: stealing chips from the dealer and daydreaming customers, increasing winning bets, secretly removing the losing chips from the field, and so on.
  2. Others use more complex methods, such as finding roulette defects or calculating the ball's trajectory using special devices.

Physicists from the Eudaemons team invented a device that allowed them to beat the casino at roulette. Luckily, gambling operators considered this a scientific experiment, not a means of enrichment.

Our articles at Casinoz discuss the most exciting roulette cheating cases in different years.

Card Games Cheaters

Poker, blackjack, and other card games have become a gold mine for all kinds of cheaters long before the active development of casinos. Swindlers who skillfully "bred the suckers" existed in countries where people played cards for money long ago.

Rigged deck, marked cards, aces hidden in the sleeves – these well-known techniques are only the tip of the iceberg. The arsenal of card sharers includes many tricks, and experienced cheaters continue to develop new methods and improve the old ones.

Casino security services worldwide are fighting with swindlers who work at the tables for card games, but they are far from beating the sharpers. You will see this when you read our articles about them.

Scammers on Slots

Slots are the most popular type of casino game. The largest casinos have hundreds of video slots. Their vast number complicates the process of visitors' control. An absence of direct supervision pushes many customers to cheat slot machines.

Of course, homegrown scammers almost always get caught, but professional fraudsters often escape punishment. In the era of mechanical slot machines, crooks used primitive tools to get inside the devices and affect their operation. When casinos started to use electronic slots, sharers learned to affect the sensors using miniature lanterns.

Cheaters meet every technological innovation of the developers with new techniques that allow them to hack slot machines.

Hackers VS. Casinos in 2024

The integration of digital technologies in the gambling industry hasn't solved the problem of casino scams. Hackers came to replace traditional cheaters.

They do not allow the owners of offline casinos or operators of gambling sites to relax. They attack online casinos, decrypt algorithms of pseudo-random number generators, steal money from user accounts, interfere with the operation of systems of progressive jackpots, and so on.

In recent years, hackers have become the main characters of news about fraud in the gambling business.

casino gamblers tips

100 Best Gambling Scams on Casinoz

Articles about casino fraudsters are not classified on the site. There is no need for thematic sub-sections. All the publications deserve the attention of our readers who are interested in this issue in the gambling business because they are dedicated to the most resonant incidents.

You will learn about the legendary card sharers of the past, the founders of roulette fraud, developers of unique technological devices for cheating casinos, and other scams.

The section is periodically updated with stories from the past and present. Watch for updates.

Tips for Gamblers in 2024

How to avoid becoming a victim of a scammer in 2024? Here are some practical tips from casino staff and experienced players.

  • Avoid illegal gambling. Give up a visit to the dogfish, the underground slot halls, and other questionable places.
  • Always give preference to a reliable casino with a good reputation. There are cases when dealers beat the clients using cheating techniques and tricks with the approval of the management.
  • Don't gamble with strangers. You can meet them on a beach, train, resort cafe, city market, amusement park, or apartment of random friends. No matter where you are offered to dispel boredom by playing cards, dice, or gambling. Permanently abandon such proposals.
  • Cash poker can be dangerous even if you play in clubs. Often, regular players collude and cheat the beginners. The managers may not be aware of what is happening or do not bother finding out the details.
  • Be aware of thieves and other scams when playing in a land-based casino or poker room. In the throes of passion, players forget to keep an eye on their chips, mobile phones, bags, car keys, and purses. Do not rely on the security service or video surveillance employees. They are more concerned about other problems.
  • Once and for all, give up online casinos that work without licenses or use fake software. They may offer very favorable terms and generous bonuses. Moreover, they can pay. But sooner or later, you will face deception on their part, and you will not achieve justice.

In general, all the recommendations on how to avoid becoming a victim of gambling fraud come to single advice:

Play only in reliable and proven offline and online casinos, poker rooms and bookmakers.

This is the best way to avoid cheaters. Expert reviews at Casinoz will help you to choose an honest online casino.


Summary

The history of fraud in the gambling world is full of fascinating stories. It is full of legendary scammers specializing in different types of scams. One can only guess how many talented swindlers have never been caught and left unknown to the general public. However, many famous adventurers also escaped punishment for quitting the dangerous craft on time.

Articles about casino cheaters at Casinoz will introduce you to some of the most exciting incidents.

Frequently asked Questions

🙋 Are there cheaters at casinos in 2024?

Gambling clubs have always been full of swindlers of all kinds. Be aware of them.

😜 How do casino cheaters do their scams?

They mark the cards, steal chips, and have many other tricks.

🎰 Is it possible to break a slot machine?

Some people were able to do it, but Casinoz does not recommend you do it.