greatest casino scams in history
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Without a doubt, players are always looking to beat the odds to win big at casinos. However, there a few hustlers who’ve successful cheated their way to success recording the greatest casino scams in history. 

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Greatest Casino Scams in History: Introduction

Undeniably, there are plenty of irresistible prizes at stake when playing at a casino to win the jackpot. Generally, most players rely on the latest poker strategies and more to ensure the make the most out of casino experience. 

Furthermore, some players rely on pure luck when trying their hand on the most profitable casino games. However, some are willing to go the extra mile by cheating their way to some pretty big wins. Similarly to banks, casinos attract scammers and they are also vulnerable to sophisticated attacks. 

Although, casino owners invest heavily in protecting establishments, there a few scammers who’ve successfully tricked the system to win big. For that reason, we’ve highlighted some of the greatest casino scams in history that actually worked. 

Greatest Casino Scams in History: Special Contact Lenses 

First, let’s head over Les Princes Casino in Cannes, France where one of the greatest casino scams in history took. In 2011, the casino fell victim to four con artists who ripped them off €88,000 from playing table games. 

What’s more, one of Les Princes Casino’s own employees was in on the act. He aided the other scammers by secretly marking the cards using invisible ink to draw symbols showing their value. 

Then, the three gamblers wore special contact lenses enabling them to spot the cards that would give them winning hands. At first, it was all fun and games as the scammers net in big buck without raising any flags. 

However, the more you win -especially in a short period of time- the more suspicious you’ll look. It’s safe to say that these scammers didn’t get this message as they made another trip to the Cannes casino. 

Consequently, their second lucky caught the attention of the French authorities who quickly discovered the marked cards. Without a doubt, their greed landed them some lengthy jail sentences. 

greatest casino scams in history
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Greatest Casino Scams in History: Cigarette Pack Radio Transmitters 

Next, we travel to the Casino Deauville in France to unveil another of the greatest casinos scams in history occurred. In 1973, a French trio of scammers scammed the casino out of roughly $1 million dollars. 

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Surprisingly, the trio consisted of one of the casino’s own roulette dealers, his sister and brother-in-law. First, the dealer put together a pack of cigarettes with a radio transmitter as well as a roulette ball containing a small receiver. 

Then, a button on the pack of cigarettes triggered the roulette ball to fall in certain numbers of the roulette wheel. All in all, the scamming trio achieved an impressive 90% accuracy rate with the scam. Undoubtedly, that’s enough to sound the alarms of any casino owner. 

However, at first, this particular casino owner was keen on striking up a relationship with roulette dealers sister. At the same time, he also grew suspicious of the women’s regular appearance at the same roulette table. Furthermore, the casino was also experiencing heavy losses during the same period of time. 

Consequently, the owner orders a debugging of the that the casino’s floors. From there, they were able to catch the trio red-handed after finding the radio transmitter and tiny receiver.

Greatest Casino Scams in History: Counterfeit Coins 

Without a doubt, it’s no easy feat to trick and scam the casino to win the jackpot. However, some players have managed to plan some pretty sophisticated tricks to win on jackpot slots and more. 

One US scammer managed to achieve this by creating counterfeit coins and tokens to pull off one the greatest scams in history. Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio made as he describes “high-quality replicas” of slot machines tokens to use at several casinos across the US. 

However, the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest counterfeiter” scam eventually came to end. This came after the casinos he had scammed realised a surplus of tokens and slot machines coins in their vaults. At first, he was arrested in 1998 and received a six-year jail sentence. 

However, he was soon back to his olds counterfeiting tricks and was subsequently jailed again in 2006. 

greatest casino scams in history
The real gambits are among us – Image source: William Tung from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Greatest Casino Scams in History: Sector Targeting with Lasers 

Lastly, we head over to London’s Ritz Casino where one of the greatest casino scams in history occurred in 2004. Three scammers managed to hustle about from $1.2 million from the casino using a system of sector targeting.

As a result, the system of lasers and computers enabled the trio to predict which section of the wheel the ball was most likely to land on. Overall, they used laser scanners hidden in their cell phones linked to a computer to help them win the casino game. 

However, their scam was eventually stopped and the scammers were arrested. However, they didn’t face any charges as there were no laws prohibiting the use of sector targeting at the time. 

All in all, there’s no denying that the successful greatest scams in history were pretty sophisticated and ingenious. However, be sure to read the gambling scams to be wary of so you don’t become a victim like the previously mentioned casinos.

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