Biggest Slot Machine Cheats From Gambling History

Slots are currently the biggest, easiest and most popular form of gambling on the globe. Requiring virtually no skill, offering the potential for massive wins and coming in a brain-melting array of themes and features, they are the ultimate gambling machines.
While there are still mechanical slots in brick-and-mortar casinos, gamblers these days prefer to catch fun on online versions with virtual reels and a frightful amount of eye-candy. Such slots include the likes of Gonzo’s Quest, Starburst, Fluffy Favourites and others too numerous to mention.

Now, slots throughout the decades of their existence have been targeted by fraudsters and criminals who seek to reap where they did not sow. Listed below are some of the more savoury and very much illegal cheating methods used on traditional slots in traditional casinos.

String Em Up: This method involved cheats tying a string to a coin, dropping it into the slot and then retrieving it when the said coin tripped the interior slot mechanism that verified that a coin had been deposited. This in effect enabled cheats to play for free, but have largely fallen out of use when casinos switched to using more sophisticated slot machines.

Spoonful Of Wins: Back in the days, the slots then in use employed coin tubes that stacked the coins in preparation for wins. When there was an actual win, slides positioned underneath the tube opened and shut in order to dispense the proper amount of coins. Cheats could, however, employ a spoon-shaped implement to prop the slide open, thereby letting out all the coins held inside.

Inside Work: During the 1990s, some people were arrested in Nevada, following an attempt to cheat a massive slot machine of the sort used to gain publicity in sizable casinos. This slot was known as a Big Bertha and the cheat involved a crowd gathering to prevent people getting a good view of what was happening, as an accomplice slithered inside and manipulated the reels in her favour. All was going well, till the security guards wised up and apprehended the cheats.

Bag Of Joy: Slot machines that used coins were temperamental and thirsty beings that required frequent filling up with coins. Such fill-ups necessitated the use of bags containing hundreds of coins that were worth a fair amount. When emptying these coins into the hopper of a slot, a crooked slot attendant or two would palm or pinch coins and convert the same to their personal benefit. Considering that slot machines frequently had to be filled up dozens of times daily, such attendants could earn a sizable amount, at least till they were found out and sacked.

Magnetic Attraction: Slot machines of the 1960s and 70s were fatally vulnerable to magnets. By placing a strong magnet on the outside of some slots of this period, the reels were enabled to freely float, rather than stopping where they were designed to. Once winning combos had been formed on such compromised slots, the magnets were removed and the cheaters able to claim the payouts shown. It is however impossible for such cheats to work on slots of this era, as their payouts are based on a totally random set of formulae known as the RNG- Random Number Generator.