There are various strategies used by casino cheaters, from using gadgets or insiders, but none is more impressive than what these men accomplished.
Richard Marcus conned Las Vegas casinos for 20 years using a simple roulette sleight of hand, showing no remorse and consulting with them now.
Richard Marcus
Movies such as 21, Oceans Eleven, James Bond and Casino have provided us with hours of entertainment; but these movies only show us a fraction of real-life casino scams that take place every day by professional casino cheaters who make a living doing this illegal activity – scammers have long since gotten away with these frauds!
Richard Marcus has become one of the best known casino con men by using an ingenious trick: He would hide $2,000 casino chips underneath $5 chip bets he placed to fool casinos and win $10,010 whenever his bets won while only incurring losses when they lost. This allowed him to make a living through fraud for years – so much so that one casino actually allowed him in!
He has also dabbled in acting, appearing on television series such as St. Elsewhere and Melrose Place as well as guest starring in two episodes of 24. Additionally, he belongs to numerous clubs such as Grolier, Harvard, Harmonie in New York and Lakewood Country and Columbian Club in Dallas.
Tommy Glenn Carmichael
Tommy Glenn Carmichael was an expert at casino slot machines. He invented a device known as the “slider,” or monkey paw, that could be inserted into payout chutes of machines until it tripped a switch and made them pay out – an incredibly lucrative scam that eventually lead to his arrest but was avoided thanks to agreeing to reveal his methods to help casinos prevent cheaters.
Carmichael was fascinated with electronic technology as a child, opting to dismantle his ham radio instead. Once released from prison, he purchased himself a slot machine and designed his Monkey Paw slot cheat device, before later creating the Light Wand to fool its inner camera and steal up to $5,000 per hour from it. Now, he owns his own pawn shop while caring for his elderly mother.
Monique Laurent
Monique Laurent was one of the most celebrated casino cheaters of all time. Her nerve and intelligence enabled her and her croupier brother, Paul, to pull off an extraordinary roulette scheme which yielded over $1 Million within one week!
At first glance, their plan appeared simple. They smuggled in a radio transmitter hidden within a pack of cigarettes and an electronic robot roulette ball equipped with receiver, both controlled remotely by Monique using her radio transmitter – with over 90% certainty landing one of six slots every time she used her transmitter to steer it.
Monique is a senior researcher at CWI within the Networks and Optimization research group and part-time full professor at Tilburg University. She earned a PhD in mathematics from University Paris Diderot, specialising in mathematical optimization combining topics like Hypercubes, Convex bodies and Orthogonal polynomials with issues in discrete mathematics as well as topics such as Rate of convergence and Quantum entanglement in her research.
Dennis Nikrasch
Dennis Nikrasch (also known as Dennis McAndrews) was one of the most prolific casino cheaters ever. He duped casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City out of an estimated $16 Million through various means such as rigging slot machines so his friends could win jackpots while taking home most of it himself.
As slot machines entered the digital era, Nikrasch adjusted his methods accordingly. He learned to alter a computer chip used to regulate payouts at home before using it in casinos to trigger jackpots at will. Nikrasch would employ teams of several people to play and monitor his rigged slots; keeping between 50-70% of profits as per court documents.
Nikrasch was eventually caught in 1998 after being set up by one of his own team members who betrayed him in exchange for reduced jail time. He was sentenced to three years but, like so many chronic cheaters before him, is back working and making millions – allegedly through his own online casino!
