We all hear stories about how many people gambled and made a fortune out of it. And now as casino or gambling platforms have reached our homes via the internet, anyone and everyone can try their luck.
You may be thinking that these casinos scam people and take their money but that is not the only case. Many of the time casinos themselves were the victims of scams.
But, over the years, casinos made improvements in their security to avoid these scams. As a result, offering a safe place to gamble for many players around the globe.
This has a huge positive impact on people and now many of them feel safe to gamble online as well.
By choosing a trustworthy casino with high-security systems, both the casinos and players can avoid such online casinos scams.
We are going to share some casino scams of the past.
Counting Cards
Many table games consider counting cards acceptable, for example, Blackjack. Counting cards is exactly as it sounds, in short, it involves keeping a track of the remaining cards or the cards that are dealt.
In 2011, one gambler tried to take advantage of this legal move. And hired 30 partners to stack the card decks in multiple casinos.
The dealer would imitate shuffling and pass out the cards. And guess what, the dealer used to mark the cards to make a particular person win. Through this technique, this gang managed to scam and win about $7 million from 20+ casinos.
Fortunately, they couldn’t stay hidden for long and most of them pled guilty after authorities catch them.
Sector Targetting
In 2004, a trio of gamblers in London made a plan to sector target a roulette ball. They made this scam possible by using high-tech cheating methods.
A setup of laser, computer, and mobile phones was used. Furthermore, by using the phone they pointed their laser to calculate the speed of the ball.
And with that data, they used a computer to estimate the exact number the ball is going to fall. This trio of gamblers successfully manage to scam the London casino for millions of dollars.
But finally, they were caught, but they were successful in slipping without any charges against them. And the reason for that is that there was no law against the use of sector targeting.
Edge Sorting
This scam requires a sharp eye. Everyone believes that the back of the cards on a deck is not usually symmetrical.
There is usually a small curve or bend that these scammers notice and memorize. They carefully study the edges of other cards as well and identify the cards based on that.
Now, this may seem like a scam that anyone can pull off, but it takes a lot of presence of mind and sharp eyes.
In 2012 a poker player managed to scam a casino in London for $11 million. The poker player would have the dealer go through regular decks a few times.
And only after finding the desired deck would increase the bets, which helped him to get away with a huge sum of money.
Contact Lenses
This is another unique incident of scamming. Once in 2011, in the city of Cannes in France scammers used specialized contact lenses to scam a casino.
They managed to get help from an employee of the casino and marked some high-ranking cards with invisible ink.
And with the help of these customized contact lenses. The scammers manage to pick those cards that were visible only to them. They scammed the casino for about $88,000.
And, they did this scam on a combination of tables to avoid suspicion but after the authorities discovered the marked cards. As a result, They were successful in catching the scammers
Now the casinos try using infrared or other specialized cameras to keep a watch on such scams.
Fake Coins
This type of scam is not new to the world. A jeweler Louis Colavecchio with the nickname “The Coin” was an expert in counterfeiting coins to fool the slot machines.
He had a successful scamming streak until 1998 when he was arrested. Colavecchio was successful in winning hundreds and thousands of dollars with this scam.
His target included mainly the casinos in and around Atlantic City. But after the arrest, he was behind the bars for 6 Years.
Moreover, this didn’t stop him from again creating counterfeit coins after his release. He was again under arrest for the production of fake coins.
Apart from him, others used strings to attach to coins so that they could pull them back and reuse them.
Casinos came up with the idea to use paper tickets instead of coins to avoid such scams. And now with online slots and video slots, a drastic reduction in coin scams has taken place.
Radio Transmitters
A roulette dealer in France, along with his 2 partners scammed a casino for $1 million in 1973.
They were successful in creating a radio transmitter hidden inside a cigarette pack. And the receiver within the roulette ball.
By pressing the button on the cigarette pack they could adjust the landing of the ball. And the success rate of the ball landing in the place they want was up by 90%
And as the roulette table start to lose heavily it caused suspicion. A debugging crew was sent to analyze and they found the transmitter and receiver.
Final Words
Although you may think that these are very creative ways to scam the casinos. But in the end, a scam is a scam and it is illegal and unethical to scam and one should not get involved in such activities.
Luckily the possibility of online casinos scams is near zero. If you want to try out gambling then make sure you select a trustworthy casino. That will keep you and the casino both safe from scammers.
These are the 6 times when scammers went all the way to scam casinos and steal a load amount of sum. We hope you find this article on “6 Famous Casino Scams of the Past” informative so for more such posts, please check out our website.
