Ever wondered what it takes to beat the odds and leave a casino with more than just a free drink? While most of us rely on luck, a few daring players decided to rewrite the rules – literally.
Those notorious cheaters walked away with incredible wins, only to have their tricks exposed and their luck run out.
From clever schemes to outright scams, their stories show just how far some people are willing to go to outwit the system. While many faced serious consequences, their actions are still very interesting.
So, let’s investigate the 10 biggest casino cheating scandals and uncover how these gamblers played the system just to lose it all.
10 Biggest Casino Cheaters in History
Here are the biggest casino cheaters ever and what they did to deserve their title:
Tommy Glenn Carmichael Used Homemade Tools to Rig Slot Machines
For nearly two decades, Tommy Glenn Carmichael used his homemade tools to rig slot machines across Las Vegas casinos, earning millions through his cunning tactics.
After his TV repair business collapsed, Carmichael turned his attention to slot machines and learned to rig them. He first tested his skills in a Vegas casino, easily winning $35. Eventually, he earned thousands across several Vegas casinos using his ingenious trick.
Carmichael’s breakthrough came with the invention of the “Monkey Paw.” Made from wires used for guitar strings, this tool could be placed in the payout chute and trick the machine into releasing coins. With the monkey paw, Carmichael earned thousands of dollars every night.
Another brilliant invention of Carmichael was the “light wand” casino tool, which triggers the slot machine’s “coin-releasing” mechanism by blinding its sensors.
Carmichael’s success came to an abrupt end in 2001 when the FBI caught up with him. He was sentenced to one year in prison, followed by three years of probation. Additionally, the Nevada Gaming Commission blacklisted him in the “Black Book,” permanently banning him from all casinos.
Ron Harris Discreetly Coded Slot Machines So His Accomplice Could Win Jackpot
Ron Harris, a former software engineer for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, was tasked with developing anti-cheating programs for casinos. In the early 1990s, he secretly programmed several slot machines with algorithms designed to trigger jackpots when players inserted coins in specific sequences.
His casino cheating strategy involves an accomplice who played slots across Vegas casinos and took home thousands of dollars from 1993 to 1995.
Eventually, Harris found himself in prison in 1996 after his accomplice, Reid McNeal, was caught rigging a Keno game at a New Jersey casino. Harris faced four counts of slot cheating, resulting in a seven-year sentence.
Christian Lusardi Introduced Over $800,000 Worth of Fake Chips
Many gambling cheats are known for their discreet tactics, which often take years to uncover. But our next entry engaged in a deceit that was notably short-lived.
In 2014, Christian Lusardi joined the Borgata Winter Open Tournament to play poker with a $372,000 jackpot prize. Unbeknownst to other players, Lusardi introduced counterfeit chips to top up his stack in the game.
By the second day of the tournament, Lusardi had become the chip leader. But it wasn’t long before casino officials noticed an unusual surplus of chips. As the investigation began during the game, Lusardi panicked and tried to cover his tracks by flushing the fake chips down the toilet. Unfortunately for him, the chips clogged the pipes, prompting authorities to investigate further. What they found was shocking: nearly two million dollars worth of counterfeit chips.
The incident resulted in the cancellation of the event, and the casino lost more than $463,000 in revenue. Lusardi was arrested and sentenced to five years in Federal prison. He received parole in 2016, but not much is known about his current whereabouts.
John Kane Caught a Video Poker Bug That Earned Him Over $500,000
Cheating in casinos often involves an elaborate plan. However, for John Kane, his journey into the jackpot began by chance.
Several Game King video poker machines have a bug that was extremely difficult to spot. The machines pay a jackpot based on a new denomination after changing the previous one that won a big jackpot. It takes a complex setup to trigger this bug, but John Kane and his friend, Andre Nestor, found it after countless hours of playing the game.
The bug was a life-changing discovery for the duo, and it led them to earn over $500,000.
They were eventually caught by the authorities and faced several cases. However, since they never tampered with or used an external tool to rig the machines, these cases were dropped. After all, they simply pressed some buttons to win big, and they took advantage of a fatal flaw in the machines’ design.
The Tran Organization Bribed Casinos To Do “False Shuffles”
From 2002 to 2007, a criminal gang named the Tran Organization targeted casinos in the US and Canada to amass over $7 million. The members bribed casino officials to perform “false shuffles” in baccarat and blackjack. This trick lets specific cards retain order so the gang members can identify sequences and predict forthcoming cards.
The team also used hidden wireless microphones and earpieces to communicate with other members using a computer program that predicted reappearing cards. The crew’s luck ran out in 2011 when 47 members were indicted by the authorities, 42 of whom pleaded guilty to cheating conspiracy charges.
Marc Branco Took More Than $1 Million Through an Inside Job
Bellagio casino crap dealer Marc Branco orchestrated an inside job with his two friends that bagged them around $1.2 million from 2012 to 2014.
The scam was as devious as it was simple. Branco’s accomplices would place high-value bets on certain roll combinations, but they deliberately made their bets hard to understand – mumbling phrases that made it seem like they were placing hop bets. After the roll, Branco would pay his friends as if that were the bets they declared regardless of the numbers that appeared.
The casino soon discovered their tactic because of their frequent winnings despite the slim chances of this happening (1 in 452 billion). Each one of the crew faced at least four years in prison.
Louis Colavecchio Produced Fake Slot Machine Tokens
Colavecchio, once a jewelry maker, became a notorious casino counterfeiter. He crafted fake slot machine coins using hardened steel dies of genuine tokens, which were so convincing that even the FBI had difficulty telling them apart from the real ones under a microscope. For this reason, he earned the moniker “The Coin.”
The amount Colavecchio swindled remains unknown, but authorities suspected it to have reached millions of dollars due to the multitude of fabricated tokens he created.
In 1997, Colavecchio was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. As a result of his illicit tricks, most casinos phased out tokens and replaced them with paper vouchers.
Ida Summers Used Charm to Win Blackjack Games
Known as the “Vegas Vixen,” Ida Summers proved that cheaters come in all forms. A skilled manipulator, she earned thousands of dollars per night by using sleight of hand to rig blackjack games.
Summers became infamous for her “hand-mucking” technique, where she would conceal a favorable card and swap it for a less favorable one when needed. For this to work, she needed the same cards the casinos use. So, she either charmed dealers to give her some decks or stole them from the casino.
After multiple wins across blackjack tables, the FBI caught Summers. But instead of serving years behind bars, she only served about twelve months on probation.
Casino Insider Who Cashed Over $5 Million Over 25 Years
Richard Marcus spent over 25 years working as a blackjack and baccarat dealer in Las Vegas, but instead of just dealing cards, he became a master of casino cheating. Over the years, he reportedly banked close to $7 million through a combination of clever tricks and sleight of hand, all without ever being charged by authorities.
Marcus used several tricks to cheat casinos. For instance, he used “past posting,” where, using his sleight of hand, he swiftly replaced low-denomination chips with higher-value ones to earn huge payouts. There was also the “Savannah” move, in which Marcus sneaked in a high-value chip under a low one when placing them down on a roulette table.
Though Marcus eventually caught the attention of law enforcement, he was never convicted. Today, he uses his extensive experience to consult for casinos, helping them identify and prevent scams and cheating attempts.
Card Counting Masters Who Won Over $10 Million
This scandal is arguably the most famous, having inspired the Hollywood film “21.” A group of students and ex-students from MIT and Harvard University mastered card-counting techniques to beat blackjack and won over $10 million in over 20 years.
It all started with Bill Kaplan, a Harvard graduate, who trained and managed some MIT undergraduate and seasoned counters to count cards in a game of blackjack. After raising about $89,000 from several investors, they were able to double this amount in two weeks through their card-counting tricks. From thereon, they started winning across blackjack tables and bagging thousands of dollars.
Soon, casinos discovered the team’s schemes and eventually banned members from playing blackjack. In 1993, the team broke up, but some members continued to play until the early 2000s.
Biggest Casino Cheaters – Final Words
While casinos are often portrayed as exciting hubs of chance, behind the scenes, some players are willing to break the rules to win big.
From clever tricks to full-blown schemes, these stories reveal just how far some will go to beat the system. However, one thing is clear: cheating might bring short-term rewards, but it always comes with long-term consequences.
Let these stories serve as a reminder that, in the end, honesty in the game is what truly pays off.
