Home /
News /
Gambling Scandals That Left Their Mark On Casinos /

Gambling Scandals That Left Their Mark On Casinos

Thanks to the house edge, the casino will always win in the long run. That's the nature of its business. But for some gamblers, that's unacceptable. They spend considerable time and effort in designing methods by which they can beat the house. Of course, these tactics are not fair, legal or sportsmanlike. The idea is to take as much money from the casino, without getting caught. Some use sleight of hand, others develop tiny computers or put together expert blackjack card counting teams.

Rate this news

Gambling Scandals That Put Casino Games On The Map

The world of gambling can be both exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. For all the stories you might hear of gamblers winning mega-jackpots, there are those less known tales of people losing their shirts. Of course, everybody loves to read rags to riches stories. Those where someone enters the casino with their last $10 and leave as a millionaire. But the type of story that most people like to hear is about those involving some sort of scandal. These are the stories that really blow up the betting and casino scene in the public eye. Whether it’s a daring tale of cheating the casino or simply stealing chips, let’s have a look at five of the best-known gambling scandals in casino history.

Gambling Scandals: The MIT Blackjack Team

If you’ve seen the Hollywood movie, “21”, then you’ll know what this story is all about. In the late 1970s, a number of ex-students from MIT Harvard formed a blackjack team that specialised in card counting. They were able to take the casinos for millions of dollars up until 1993 when the team finally disbanded. The team leader was Bill Kaplan and he set about training each member of the team so that they would be able to work together as one harmonious group. So good were their jackpot winning strategies, that it took over two decades for the casinos to finally get a handle on the MIT Harvard team. Yet some of them still managed to continue their antics and fly under the radar well into the 2000s.

Unfortunately, card counting doesn’t work at online casinos. Sites like 22Bet Casino will still give you a great blackjack experience, especially with their exciting live dealer versions. Thanks to multiple decks and shuffling machines, the days of card counting are pretty much over.

Louis Colavecchio (The Coin)

Ever the ingenious casino player, Louise Colavecchio made thousands of dollars from the casinos by simply inserting fake slot machine coins into their slots. In fact, of all the money he won, he never once spent a single dime of his own. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and Colavecchio was eventually put under arrest. He just spent 27 months in a federal prison which isn’t much fun. Later on, when he was 76 years old he was still the OG of ripping off casinos and was to do yet more time inside for counterfeiting.

Gambling Scandals: Ron Harris

Ron Harris had probably the best job for someone who was interested in cheating at slots in casinos. Not only did he work for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, but his job was to design anti-cheating software. Never one to lose an opportunity, Ron Harris designed the programs in such a way that players could land jackpots if they inserted coins into the jackpot slots in a particular order. He then got an accomplice to play and win money together. He was able to reprogram about 30 machines and saw a payday of a few $100,000. But in 1996 all that came to an end when he was arrested and sentenced to 7 years in prison. We’re sure that someone may see him as a sort of David vs Goliath battle with the casinos, in which he outsmarted them. But the cold reality is that he was stealing from them.

Play Slots Online at the 22BET Casino

The William John Brennan Case

Here’s another character that worked within the industry and used that knowledge to gain an advantage. Like Ron Harris, William John Brennan was nothing more than a common thief. Nevertheless, his theft of $500,000 worth of chips and cash from the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, remains unsolved to this day. Brennan was working as a sports cashier in the casino hotel in question. Then one day in 1992, something must have snapped and he simply walked out of the casino with half a million dollars worth of moolah. What’s interesting is that none of the cameras installed in either the casino or the hotel recorded him leaving. Like a phantom, he was to simply disappear into the ether. To this day, no one knows of his whereabouts.

Gambling Scandals: Richard Marcus

We’re not quite sure what to make of Richard Marcus. On the one hand, we admire his nerve and sheer face in that he was able to walk away with over $5 million from various casinos. But on the other hand, the manner by which he achieved this seems so underhand that it’s almost unbelievable it could happen. Marcus was once employed as a baccarat and blackjack dealer in Las Vegas. During this period he learnt both games inside out until he was skilled enough to win money on a regular basis. But it’s how he won that is the bone of contention. Essentially, he would play a hand with a low bet and see if he won. If he had, then he would swipe the lower value chip in front of him on the gaming table, with a higher value chip using sleight of hand.

This allowed him to win a huge amount of money with very little investment. This method seems almost childish in its simplicity and yet it brought home fantastic results. In the end, he was caught, but the casino could not make a conviction stick. Today, Marcus can be found giving talks on the casino circuit, teaching others about how to win the jackpot. As well as writing books about his casino adventures.

Theft and Cheating Are Nothing Noble

Finally, we should address the ethical issues of these gambling scandals. There are some people who think that by cheating the casino, they are somehow in the right. That because casinos are obscenely wealthy, having made their money by fleecing players, it’s a kind of karmic payback. This is a very shallow way of thinking. Casinos are, first and foremost, businesses. It’s you who chooses to play there, then you also choose to win or lose your money. With the advent of more and more online casinos increasing their popularity on a daily basis, then the old-fashioned methods by which certain players could cheat the system are now totally redundant. Without real cards or a real dealer, then the possibility of being smarter than a computer algorithm is virtually zero.

But the idea of casino playing games is not to try and outsmart the casino using nefarious means. First and foremost it’s to have fun. To escape from daily life for some hours. One of the best means of doing this is to play online. We suggest that you head over to our favourite casino, 22Bet Casino. They have a massive variety of casino games. Also, they offer all new players a bonkers welcome bonus of 122% up to €300 to get things up and running.

Conclusion: Gambling Scandals

Imagine how many people attend a single casino in Las Vegas for just one day. Now you can see that there are literally hundreds of thousands of stories like this taking place all the time. In some ways, these stories amplify the will to win. And the fact that some people will use this strong desire to break the rules. Card counting is one thing that requires dedication and skill. By doing this you can certainly increase your jackpot winning chances. It’s also not illegal. But the above methods really come down to nothing more than stealing and cheating.

If you’re gambling in a real brick and mortar casino, and are struggling to suppress the desire to cheat, then we suggest that in your spare time you watch the Martin Scorsese movie “Casino.” The manager of this casino is played by Robert De Niro. It comes to his notice that a couple of people are cheating at the card tables. We won’t ruin the movie for you, but let’s just say it involves the use of a hammer! Although such punishments would not be meted out today to casino cheaters, they do run the risk of going to prison or ending up with a heavy fine.