By Jacob Atkinson
If there is one thing that all casino and slot machine operators need to be aware of, its that their slot games are always going to be at risk of being ripped off, and over the years as this guide will enlighten you on, there have been loads of different ways that people have cheated all manner of different slot machines.
Some of the methods of defrauding a slot machine were very basic in their design, but as slot machine designers became aware of such scams, they quickly change the design of their slot machines.
In years gone by the reels of a slot machine ere totally mechanical devices, and it didn’t take long for some people to discover that it was possible for them to play a slot machine until a winning combination and then simply put some pressure on the glass covering the reels so that the reels wouldn’t move on the next spin they played off.
As the reels didn’t then move they would be paid out the initial win again, and could continue to pull that very basic scam until the slot machine was empty of coins, however the scam has now been eradicated due to slot machines now having electronic reels and ones on which a sensor ensures the reels have spun and moved, and if not an alarm will sound and the slot machine will lock up.
Below are some of the much more advanced slot machines cheats and scams, some of which players are still pulling off to this day.
How Fraudsters Cheat Slot Machines
One way that fraudster could always guarantee they were going to win playing slot machines was by using a method known as strimming or stringing. That would entail them using a piece or wire used on garden strimmer’s to obtain credits on the very older styled slot machine coin mechanisms.
Once slot machine providers got wind of that scam they slightly altered their coin mechanisms so strimming would not be possible, but then fraudsters simply attached a piece of string to a real coin and would with some practice be able to insert a coin into a coin mech and then pull it back out of the coin slot once credits had been obtained on a slot machine.
Nowadays though coin mechanisms are completely electronic devices and a range of sensors detect the metal a coin is made of, its diameter and thickness and will only accept a coin and award credits if it is a value coin.
The pay-out hoppers attached to many older real money slot machines are also vulnerable to attack too, and by using a light wand which was simply a light attached to a long piece of wire a slot cheat could insert it into a pay-out chute of a slot machine and blind the sensors that counted the coins out of a hopper when a player cashed out their winnings.
That scam did cost the gaming machine industry millions until a new way of paying out players winnings was adopted, that being by using the modern-day ticket in ticket out pay-out system.
Whilst most honest playing will always be eager to find a winning slot machine and one that may just pay-out, some players are always look for ways to cheat the system, and many attempts have been made to cheat casinos with fake ticket in ticket out vouchers.
Some people have tried to cash in photocopies of real vouchers but they are often found out as the security systems in place make it very easy for a casino to detect fake and counterfeit tickets, many players have also tried to rip off the note acceptors attached to slot machines by inserting fake banknotes into them.
It can be and often is corrupt casino employees that can cost a casino a fortune when they move over to the dark side so to speak, and each year many casino employees are convicted of trying to rip off the slot machines they have been entrusted to repair or manage.
The older fashioned methods of robbing a slot machine are still in use to this day and the most common way thieves will rob a slot machine is by brute force and will simply smash open the cash boxes attached to slot machines and do a runner with the contents of those cash boxes, if they can run faster than the security personnel employed at each casino that is.
Most Successful Slot Machine Cheating Methods
There are some very stiff penalties that can be imposed on any one who is found guilty of cheating slot machines, however sadly those penalties do not appear to put off those people who are committed to robbing and cheating slot machines, and below are the most common ways slot cheats have been able to defraud and scam slot machines over the years.
- Strimming and Stringing
- Hopper Light Wand
- TITO Frauds and Scams
- Note Acceptor Manipulation
- Corrupt Employees
- Smash and Grab Raids
There are of course plenty of other ways that people have been able to rip off and cheat slot machines over the years, and each day all over the world there will be somebody who is trying to work out how they can cheat such machines, so slot providers do have something of an ongoing battel with those slot machine cheats.
Resources
Keep in mind that land-based casinos the world over have become very well adapt at spotting any potential slot machine cheats and fraudsters in their venue and there are lots of other casino games that players cheat at too. Many casinos now have facial recognition cameras within their venues to help their security teams spot anyone with a known history of cheating.
