Slot machines have long been one of the most beloved casino games, both for players and the house alike. While rigging slots these days is nearly impossible due to random number generators being employed in their design, cheaters have always found ways to beat it and manipulate results through cheating methods.
Many of the hacks and devices employed by slot cheaters over time have been inventive and inventive, even sometimes oddball. Some methods, still in use today, bear humorous names such as “light wand” or “monkey’s paw”.
These devices were used by criminals to manipulate reels and make them spin in such a way as to trigger jackpot payouts; unfortunately for them though, this attracted the unwanted attention of security and led many of them to jail time.
Magnets were once an effective method for bypassing slot machines, though not anymore due to modern slot machines’ optic sensors which do not react negatively when exposed to magnetic influence. Still, magnets remained an effective cheating strategy for decades.
Tommy Glenn Carmichael became one of the most notorious casino cheaters ever by creating what became known as “The Light Wand or Monkey’s Paw”, an elaborate device consisting of springs and guitar wire that could manipulate machines for maximum payouts. This tool became his trademark.
Though these types of slot cheats might be fascinating to read about, it is essential that all gamblers remain mindful that gambling is legal activity with risks associated with being caught. Therefore, players should focus on having fun playing the game instead of trying to cheat it.
Modern slot machines are controlled by computers and protected against magnetic influences; however, in the 1960s some slots machines were more vulnerable to magnets; cheaters could easily use magnets to influence mechanical reels to stop at high-valued symbols and cause them to stop at certain spots on the reels.
Another old but effective cheating trick was shaving coins and dropping them down slot machines with other objects that resembled their required stake coin shapes and sizes, hoping the shaved coin would be returned while accepting the other object for play – Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio used this scam successfully for years before getting caught and was forced out of business due to it.
One of the more prevalent methods for cheating slot machines during the 1980s and 90s was using a metal rod shaped like a Q to simultaneously insert coins into both coin slots while forcing a long wire into the coin chute of a machine, jamming its operation and spilling out all its coins – until finally being banned due to more sophisticated technology becoming available.