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Everyone who walks through the doors of a casino is in an optimistic state of mind. The promise that they can walk out a winner is exhilarating and they convince themselves that they can do so. However, most gamblers walk out losers since every game is mathematically designed with a house edge. The following people knew this and were determined to rectify the situation. Whether it was through intelligence and cleverness, or by outright cheating, they were not going to walk out of there without a hefty profit.
Many people may consider the list to be “too American” but it’s just what research yielded. It can be concluded that the U.S. has a bit more of a gambling culture than other countries because it is home to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and multiple other gambling cities and towns. Enjoy.
In January, 1995 Reid Errol McNeal defied roughly 1 million to 1 odds and hit a monster keno jackpot of $100,000 at Bally’s Park Place Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. What aroused suspicion of officials was that he showed very little emotion, did not have identification on him, and asked to be paid in cash.
New Jersey law requires jackpots of over $35,000 to be verified by state gaming officials, and when they arrived at the casino they went up to McNeal’s hotel room with two state troopers. There they also found Ron Harris, who said he was a friend of McNeal. When McNeal went downstairs with the officials to answer questions he told them that Harris was a computer technician for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which regulates gaming in Las Vegas. When officials went back to the room to search, Harris was gone but they found computer equipment and books and notes detailing how Bally’s random number generator could be beaten.
It was then discovered that Harris’ job was to actually check and test slot machines throughout Nevada to make sure only computer chips that were approved by the state were being used. He apparently had used his savvy, brilliance, and inside knowledge of casino gaming to access Bally’s programming for their keno machine’s random number generator, then used his computer equipment to duplicate the calculations that the actual machine made. Therefore, he was able to know the outcomes beforehand and he gave them to his partner, McNeal. McNeal was arrested immediately and Harris was later arrested in Nevada. Needless to say, Harris was not allowed to keep his job.
Garcia-Pelayo of Spain was initially a record producer but proved to not be very successful in that endeavor. As a result, he decided to devote all his energies to his passion, roulette, and became the first person to successfully exploit wheel bias in the 90s.
Others had suggested the idea of wheel bias but had never taken advantage of it in a casino situation. Wheel bias is the belief that not all roulette wheels are perfectly random, and that each individual wheel is unique in that certain numbers are more likely to drop than others. This aberration was a result of wheels being ever so slightly off level or because of other minute inaccurate measurements such as tiny differences in pocket sizes, or the way the wheel’s gears worked.
He began in casinos in Spain by tediously staring at a specific wheel for thousands of spins, recording his results, then analyzing them with a computer. He also recruited his 5 children to help record results. Before he bet a cent, he did many observation sessions on the same wheel. When he felt it was time to bet on the wheel’s “hot numbers” he swung a 5% house edge to a 15% player’s edge and raked in the cash. When he began to feel heat he found a new casino and did the process over again. When every casino in Spain knew who he was he took his method to the United States and Las Vegas where he continued to profit. When he became just too well-known by casinos around the world he retired with an estimated $1.5 million in the bank. One casino sued to recover their losses but Spain’s Supreme Court ruled in Garcia-Pelayo’s favor saying that all he did was use “ingenuity and computer techniques. That’s all”.
“The Man With The Golden Arm” and “The Dominator” are LoRiggio’s nicknames. Through years of practice, hours at a time, LoRiggio learned “controlled shooting” which is a technique of getting the rolls you needs in the game of craps when you need them.
The method involves setting the dice a certain way, gripping them precisely, tossing them so they stay together in the air, then having them land as gently as possible against the back wall of the craps table. He began with fellow dice control aficionados as the team known as Rosebud, and together they were the first to attack the Vegas strip with their specialized way of shooting. To this day, many still think that controlling the dice is impossible, but “The Dominator” says he is able to do so through simple physics.
LoRiggio eventually left the group because he felt their steadfast adherence to conservative betting was restraining him from making serious money. He teamed up with famous gambler and writer Frank Scoblete, and using controlled shooting they have claimed to have won thousands of dollars at various casinos. Although nothing LoRiggio has ever done is illegal, thanks in large part to him many casinos now identify controlled shooters and will force them to shoot the dice using different mechanics. LoRiggio now conducts dice throwing classes so if anyone wants to learn how to win thousands of dollars in the casinos with a lot of practice, sign up!
Taft was a real-life Inspector Gadget (sorry to those who never saw the cartoon). He was a legitimate electronics genius who devoted roughly 30 years to developing devices that defeated the casino. With his son Marty he began his tinkering in the 70s and is considered one of the first to create a computer to capture digital video and a microcomputer.
After a vacation in 1969 he became hooked on blackjack and recalled that Edward Thorp (see #1) had written that the game was mathematically beatable. He tried card counting but was unsuccessful, and that was when he concluded that he would use computers to get an edge in the casinos.
He first completed a 15-pound computer named George to help with card counting which he controlled with his toes and wore under his clothes. Being too bulky, he created a more lightweight device which he named David and was shockingly advanced for its time. With it he made $40,000 the first week he used it. Taft then basically spit in the faces of casinos and marketed his mini-computer for $10,000 apiece and trained people how to use it. He was eventually detained at a casino and his computer was found, but because the casino and the FBI had not the slightest inkling of how to use it, and therefore couldn’t prove it was used for cheating, Taft was let go with no consequences.
The “belly telly” was Keith and Marty’s next invention and was a tiny video camera that was placed in one’s belt buckle and could see the dealer’s hole card. The image would be relayed to an accomplice who had a satellite on a pickup truck in the parking lot, and he in turn would signal back to the player the best move to make. Other genius inventions included Thor, a computer which could deduce the positioning of cards in a deck if a perfect shuffle was used, and Naina, a sequencing computer.
In 1985 Nevada made it illegal to use electronic devices to aid in gambling, with a punishment of 10 years in prison. However, this was after Taft had won thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years. For all his sweat, blood, and tears and pioneering computer work, Taft was inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame in 2004.
With striking good looks, Ida Summers was not a woman who would seem to be the epitome of a casino cheater, but in the 60s and 70s she reeled in tens of thousands of dollars in the casinos using guile and shiftiness.
Her specialties were “hand mucking” and switching in “coolers” at the blackjack tables. Hand mucking involves concealing a card that has been brought to the table or removed from play, then through sleight of hand returning it to play when it will benefit the player. Her attractiveness, sociability, and unintimidating frame (5’3” and 100 lbs.) went a long way in deflecting heat from her as she effortlessly switched cards in and out of the deck. She made her way to Las Vegas and continued her cunning ways. It should be noted that during this time many Vegas casinos had mob connections and weren’t as “kind” to cheaters as they are today. This makes her next move even more brazen.
She took it a step further and began to insert cold decks or coolers into the games. Cold decks are pre-stacked decks, brought in by the player, that are traded out with the deck being used in the game. It is an incredibly dangerous maneuver to pull in a casino, but somehow Ida was able to successfully execute it. The fact that there were really no known female cheats at the time made her nearly invincible for a while. Soon she became a legend among the shady underworld of casino cheats since nobody in their right mind had ever attempted inserting a cold deck before.
Her boldness caught up with her however as the FBI and gaming officials ultimately brought her down.
Tommy Glenn Carmichael, like Keith Taft, was a gifted individual who created prodigiously clever devices to gain an enormous edge in the casino. However, his game was the slots. “Give me a slot machine and I’ll beat it” was his motto – and he wasn’t kidding around.
His cheating career began in 1980 at the age of 30 when he used a “top-bottom joint” to win large payouts. This device was a pretty simplistic piece of metal that produced payouts when inserted into the coin slot. Soon, larger casinos replaced their older slot machines with newer ones that had random number generators. As a result, Carmichael moved to smaller gambling halls in Las Vegas but he was arrested at one of these and sentenced to jail. Jail however only strengthened his reserve and when he was released got back to work evolving his cheating instruments.
He developed tools called a Slider and Monkey Paw which when slipped into the machine tripped a switch and caused the hopper to release coins. When slot machines went computer-based he immediately went on the offense and went to a slot machine manufacturer posing as a customer. He had the salesperson open up the new machines as he studied their innards. That was all he needed to invent the “light wand”. This gadget consisted of a camera battery and miniature light and was used to blind a sensor inside the slots causing it to payout coins. It was nearly impossible for security to detect a person using this wand because it was so subtle, and in addition to Carmichael profiting from using it, he sold it to other cheats making as much as $10,000 on certain days.
In 1996 he was arrested for using the wand but charges were later dropped. But in the next three years he was arrested twice in casinos for possession of a cheating device. The FBI became involved and in 2001 Carmichael was sentenced to time served and probation. Today he consults casinos and ironically produces anti-cheating devices. It’s quite amazing that because of one man’s ability to thwart slot machines, the entire casino industry had to make their technology increasingly more complex.
In the late 90s law enforcement agencies from various states, the FBI, Secret Service, and others, descended upon the home of Louis Colavecchio. There, and at his orthotics business, they found thousands of manufactured slot tokens from dozens of casinos throughout North America.
What sets Colavecchio apart from other counterfeiters is that he was able to duplicate just about anything made out of precious metals or stones. The slot coins found weren’t just counterfeits, they were precisely the same as the real things in every way; they essentially WERE the same thing.
In order to pull this off, “The Coin” needed some seriously specialized equipment. These hard-to-obtain things included: precious metals such as copper, nickel, and zinc, laser-cutting tools to cut, shape, and create dies to stamp out the coins, and a 150-ton press from Italy.
He was so good, that when coins were brought by officials to one of the casinos Colavecchio had hit, security experts there did not even believe they were counterfeit. He was able to decimate casinos in Las Vegas before law enforcement had any perception of his crimes. They finally became aware when large surpluses of coins showed up on casinos’ inventory in other parts of the continent and Colavecchio was suspiciously cashing in large sums of coins.
It took weeks to sort out just how much “The Coin” stole from the dozens of casinos he had made coins for. It was impossible to ascertain a definite amount since those in Las Vegas refused to even acknowledge that they had been cheated. Estimates range from $100,000 to $500,000, and it was clear he had no intentions to slow down. The government had to rent two storage facilities just to store all of the loot they found in Colavecchio’s possession.
A plea deal was reached when he promised to show law enforcement exactly how his operation had worked in order to help in the prevention of future, similar assaults on casinos.
This entry is perhaps the most famous of all here. Books have been written about it and a major movie chronicling the story was released in 2008.
Beginning as an after-school club meeting in campus classrooms at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the mid 90s, this team came into inception when these brilliant students decided to use statistic-based systems to beat the game of blackjack. They would subsequently assail casinos for years following.
The initial core of students and accepted associates then went on a recruiting campaign and even put up flyers around campus. Applicants were given tests so only the most suitable ones were chosen in the end, then they were thoroughly trained in the system. The system was card counting which, if done correctly, can give the player a slight yet substantial edge. The idea was not new, and thousands had tried their hand at it previously, but the MIT team really took it to a new level.
They created casino mock-ups and environments and took a team-based approach. This complex arrangement of having a team minimized the chance of being caught, maximized opportunities, and disguised the betting patterns that are inherent to all card counters. Casinos were experienced in identifying counters and making their time there miserable, but it would be extremely difficult for them to do so if the team masked their activity well enough. Hours upon grueling hours were spent perfecting the system and each member had to pass a tedious and demanding battery of tests before they were allowed to enter live casino play.
They began in underground card games to reassure themselves that their calculations and methods would transfer to real-life conditions. When they were sure, they acquired financial backing from anonymous investors and created their own corporation named Strategic Investments. With a bankroll of hundreds of thousands of dollars they then invaded Vegas casinos. Their impact was even greater than expected with returns far exceeding their goals. In one weekend alone they accrued $400,000 in winnings.
Heat in time began to hamper the team and they were forced to move to smaller, sometimes unsavory casinos. Eventually they travelled to European countries but their reputation followed them there as well. After more than one brush with the law the original members quit the team. New students joined but casinos all over the globe knew about MIT students and yearbook photos from the school were downloaded to a shared database. This effectively ended the team’s reign.
In all, it was reported that over the span of just a few years the team amassed a profit of over $5 million, and has also become a legendary entity in pop culture.
Marcus may be the best full-blown cheater in the history of casino gambling. In the beginning he tried to support himself solely on gambling but soon enough he found himself living under a bridge. He got his act together and became a blackjack and baccarat dealer, but while he was on the other side of the gaming table sinister ideas percolated in his head. These ideas would come to fruition and in turn would wreak havoc on the casinos.
One simple, but extremely difficult-to-pull-off, move made Marcus such an elite cheat. He dubbed it “The Savannah” and it involved betting a low denomination of chips, such as three $5 ones at the roulette table – nothing at all that would draw any attention. If he won, he would become very excited, screaming and yelling while throwing his hands up in the air. However, the dealer would be perplexed as to why a player was so elated over winning such a modest sum. Marcus would then alert him to the fact that there was a brown $500 chip underneath the three $5 chips, and when the dealer lifted the top three, he would in fact see himself that there was a $500 chip resting there.
On the other hand, if Marcus’ bet lost he would quickly and surreptitiously remove the $500 chip from the bottom of the stack as the dealer was turned toward the wheel and he would only be out $15. It was only a rudimentary optical illusion, yet a brilliant one. The smaller denomination chips were pushed just slightly forward to cover up the larger one; the dealer never saw the brown chip – unless the player wanted him to. The idea of switching out chips, or past posting as it’s known, was not new, but what made Marcus’ method so innovative was that he performed it backwards. Past posters would bet small, and if they won would stealthily add more chips to their original bet. Marcus started with a large bet then changed it to a small one if he lost. It may not seem like it was a drastic change, but casinos had never seen this before and were not looking for it because security was trained to only look at wins, and his wins were completely legitimate, it was his losses that weren’t! At the pinnacle of their game, he and accomplices were dropping $5,000 chips under $100 ones.
Richard Marcus was eventually caught and prosecuted but not after he bilked an estimated $5 million from casinos around the world. He currently sells gambling books and claims on his website that he is still involved in casino cheating but in a way law enforcement officials can never catch.
Thorp is the father of card counting. Not only was he successful using it in real-world situations, he was the one who invented the original system. A mathematics professor who possessed a master’s degree in physics and a doctorate degree in mathematics, he clearly had above-average intelligence.
As an adult in the early 60s, Thorp knew next to nothing about casino games and the world of gambling. But when a friend, Claude Shannon, brought him and his wife to Las Vegas he became interested in blackjack, and after playing the game a number of times became convinced that there was a mathematical way in which the player could gain an advantage.
He studied the game in a systematic method and exhaustively examined every facet of the game. Using a computer owned by the university he taught at, he simulated billions of blackjack hands to delve even further into the mathematics of the game. This computer was so massive it filled an entire room, yet it was less powerful than today’s laptops. Through his calculations and observations he created his system which “accounted for the variations in those (cards) that remained after certain hands were dealt”. Basically, he realized that smaller cards were more advantageous for the dealer and when they left the deck, advantage shifted in the player’s favor so they should bet more. Concurrently, larger cards were more advantageous to the player and when they left the deck the advantage shifted to the house, or dealer, so less money should be bet. Using this method Thorp calculated that the player could own a 1% to 5% advantage over the house.
Thorp and Shannon hit the casinos and would return with their pockets filled with cash. One typical weekend would net $70,000 in today’s money. The gambling industry was no match for Thorp’s flawless execution of his card counting method. After all, card counting did not yet exist to them so they had no idea what was happening. Thorp drew the attention of casino bosses when he began winning unusually high sums and most were convinced he was cheating. They intensely watched him play and studied videotapes of his play, but they could see nothing nefarious occurring. Before long, some casinos asked Thorp to leave because he was simply winning too much, yet they still did not know how he was doing so.
In 1962 Thorp wrote his book “Beat the Dealer” which detailed his card counting “ten count system” and became an instant hit as well as a modern-day classic. With its sales he amassed a pretty handsome fortune. In 1966 he wrote a second edition which expanded on the intricacies of the system. It’s interesting to note that the sudden explosion in card counting worked in favor of the casinos since many people attempting to do it just couldn’t pull it off as effectively as Thorp did. However, his findings and methods have been the basis for every card counting system following, including that of the aforementioned MIT team’s.
Following his gambling exploits, Thorp applied his mathematical genius to the stock market and made a huge fortune in securities and hedge funds. Due to his dominance over the casinos and revolutionary thinking, Thorp was one of the first seven inducted into the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
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1 T
January 24th, 2010 at 1:34 am
Great list!
2 Da_Canadian_Man
January 24th, 2010 at 1:34 am
Very impressed. Awesome List. #3 is sweet.
3 Otter
January 24th, 2010 at 1:36 am
Damn, I just got home from the casino. I didn’t beat it unfortunately.
4 SnowKid32
January 24th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Awesome List! Finally won that interested me quite a bit of the ones that have showed up lately!
5 oouchan
January 24th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Well written list. I’m glad you included Thorpe and MIT Blackjack Team. I live near several major casinos and knew of those two. Didn’t know about the others, though.
Cool list, Kjsem78.
6 ClassyKoehler
January 24th, 2010 at 1:54 am
How many lists being published are still entries from the Christmas competition? Nice list.
7 faisal
January 24th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Awesome List
8 Vera Lynn
January 24th, 2010 at 2:25 am
Nice List. Gambling is the one vice I dont have.
9 Ned
January 24th, 2010 at 2:31 am
Brilliant. Well researched and written. Any tips for a twenty bucks a week slot machine player? Try as I might I have never come home with pockets bulging with high denomination currency.
10 suzi
January 24th, 2010 at 2:33 am
This list is interesting to me because my stepfather spent years recovering from heart problems devising a counting system. He did take it to LV, but they recognized what he was doing and made him leave.
I have to shake my head at the people who use their brilliant minds to steal, when they could most likely be huge successes at productive endeavors.
11 brosiusjb
January 24th, 2010 at 2:49 am
Damn The Man! Oh and numero 2s claim that he’s invented a cheating system authorities will be impotent to detect is just a ploy to sell books.
12 jfrater
January 24th, 2010 at 3:02 am
@ClassyKoehler (6): Most of them – I am trying to get all of the Christmas lists out so everyone can have a chance at having their list shown. We are nearly at the end of them though and a few are from recently submitted lists.
13 astraya
January 24th, 2010 at 3:08 am
This should have been entitled 10 Casino Thieves. Stealing money from a casino in these ways is no different than stealing money from them with a shotgun.
I was expecting a list of people who beat the casino with good luck.
14 Joanne
January 24th, 2010 at 3:49 am
Impressive… imagine if all these smart people worked for DARPA or NASA or Wall st…
Being a Forex trader and math geek I really enjoyed this list
15 warrdogg
January 24th, 2010 at 4:16 am
Great list. The best way to walk out of a casino with $1000 in your pocket is to walk in the casino with $2000.
16 astraya
January 24th, 2010 at 4:17 am
@suzi (10): “He did take it to LV”
He took his card-counting scheme to Listverse,com? He won’t win much money here!
17 flgh
January 24th, 2010 at 4:37 am
@Vera Lynn (8): So you’ve done prostitution?
18 shadydeathrow
January 24th, 2010 at 4:47 am
Very vool list, i just read the book about MIT’s blackjack team and i am really impressed of all those people that win money in the casinos because the whole system there is against the player.
19 majava
January 24th, 2010 at 4:48 am
13 astraya Not all of these are cheaters. 9, 8, 3 and 1 used skill and intellect to beat the casinos. They didn’t cheat in the game, they just played it better than others.
20 Gregory
January 24th, 2010 at 5:07 am
awesome list…everybody check out this video of Richard Marcus
21 Lee
January 24th, 2010 at 5:20 am
this list is cool
love the movie 21 which is the movie based on the MIT card counting team its an awesome movie!!
22 Hubert
January 24th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Asraya (10), some of these people were cheats and therefore, maybe, thieves, but numbers 1,8 & 9 didn’t break any rules that existed at the time and therefore shouldn’t be classified as thieves. None of these people threatened anyone with death or violence, so they certainly cannot be compared to an armed robber.
23 gl00b
January 24th, 2010 at 5:27 am
I actually had tried out for one of the places in the mit team. I was one of the 16 people who was chosen for the “running trails” but i failed during these runs.
24 mollymooly
January 24th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Jospeh Jagger should show up in any research. In modern Vegas, he would simply be banned; but old Monte Carlo had too much class for such cowardice.
25 Amirul
January 24th, 2010 at 5:56 am
this list is so awesome!
26 Shagrat
January 24th, 2010 at 6:10 am
I wouldn’t call them cheats – I’d call them geniuses at beating casono’s at their own cheating game!
Well done, lads – - – and lady
27 Sodamancer
January 24th, 2010 at 6:22 am
I just got home from the casino. Then again, I work there.
It’s much easier to walk out of a casino with money when you’re on the right side of the table…
28 khatzeye
January 24th, 2010 at 7:23 am
Awesome list!! very unique #6 is classic no1 would suspect a women of cheat back then 4 sure!!
29 kat87
January 24th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Great List! Well written and exciting! Makes me wish I had some sort of genius that would allow me to “cheat” and make massive amounts of money haha Good on them!
30 undaunted warrior
January 24th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Unusual list, well written and researched, I enjoyed the read thanks.
31 NiMur90
January 24th, 2010 at 8:58 am
One of the better lists.
32 where
January 24th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Where is Jfrater?
33 Tryclyde
January 24th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Fantastic List! As someone who plays craps from time to time I would love to learn controlled shooting.
@mollymooly (24):
Why do some people always have to find “faults” with lists?
34 cyph3rlunch
January 24th, 2010 at 9:10 am
You know its actually the casino being the cheat lol how many times have u played and actually won anything. these guys just evened out theyre chances. even all the money they took form the casinos the casinos profit margin is still through the roof.
35 The Other Darren
January 24th, 2010 at 9:20 am
great list…tho i only gamble with my life…:P
36 randomprecision24
January 24th, 2010 at 9:37 am
great list ksjem! I was always interested in casinos, mostly the massive amounts of money they bring in
37 frostybabygurl
January 24th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Great list, loved the info that was provided, had heard of some of them but not most, pleased to see a female on the list
38 enigmasterpiece
January 24th, 2010 at 9:44 am
I am not good with math and i dont really like it as a subject. Reading this list makes me think of visiting my past math teachers and try perfecting it this time
39 kzM.I.Apimp
January 24th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Gambit from x-men
40 Moonbeam
January 24th, 2010 at 10:10 am
@Tryclyde (33): I wouldn’t call the comment by @mollymooly (24): a criticism. Often at the end of many of the lists here there is a suggestion that people make additions to the list in the posts if they’d like.
41 King
January 24th, 2010 at 10:18 am
How about a list about people who got ripped of all their money at a casino?
42 Tryclyde
January 24th, 2010 at 10:22 am
@King (41): That wouldn’t be a top 10 list, it would be a top 100 million list.
43 King
January 24th, 2010 at 10:29 am
@Tryclyde(42) Even than millions would have their top 10! But i guess that would be impossible to know!
44 Hogarth
January 24th, 2010 at 10:43 am
The first time I ever laid a bet on roulette, I put it all on 32 and won. Ka-ching.
45 MamaBear2Cubs
January 24th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Good idea for a list. I always like to hear about people beating the system. Especially since, as it has been pointed out that Casinos are still rolling in cash even with cheaters out there. I like going to the occasional Casino. I won $250 @ Texas’ Hold ‘em. It was a 5 dollar buy in. Than 100 bucks at the slot machines, I walked in with 40 bucks. Than I left not pushing my luck. The 40 bucks was actually lended to me before going in too lol. I am a scratch ticket junkie though.
46 timmy the dying boy
January 24th, 2010 at 10:57 am
How could you forget Charles Wells?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wells_%28gambler%29
They even wrote a song about him.
47 Carole
January 24th, 2010 at 11:13 am
People cheating, so what? They didn’t really beat the casino’s did they? Most of the money they won was grossly exaggerated. I saw a documentary about Colavecchio and he only ever managed to get a few thousand before he got caught. Once again a list with very little research put into it.
People who beat the odds and win. Now that is something !
48 Kjsem78
January 24th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Hey guys, happy you like the list…
I had information on both Charles Wells and Joseph Jagger but I wanted to go a little more modern with the list. Their stories are interesting too though.
49 CRC3
January 24th, 2010 at 11:31 am
I remember a few years ago, a man who sold everything he had and bet it all in the casino. Fortunately, he won. Gaining the double he bet. I saw it on the news, so don’t remember name or date.
50 Kjsem78
January 24th, 2010 at 11:34 am
@Carole (47): Carole, that’s simply incorrect; it’s been documented that Colavecchio cheated casinos out of much more than a couple of thousand dollars but that much of this money was never fully substantiated beacause they couldn’t directly prove it. This is also in addition to him being comped and earning VIP treatment.
Also, I pride myself on doing thorough research and make sure it’s accurate.
Lastly, I think the stories of clever people (whether they cheated or not) who beat the casino are much more interesting than of those who just got lucky. There’s not much to write about the latter.
51 Big Naked
January 24th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
That’s it my friends, oh yes that’s it, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, oh you betcha ha! ha! don’t you forget it though!
52 Big Naked
January 24th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
P.S. Me love listverse long time!
53 Lifeschool
January 24th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Great list!
Very well written and researched – it’s been such a long time since a list was so widely regarded. Sounds like you’re looking to gets a few hands in yourself Kjsem?
This reminded me of the odds vs probability comments a while ago – something I will never understand – my maths brain withered and died ages ago. Still fascinating from a Chaos point of view.
We now have four gambling / betting shops in my home town – seems like the less money we have in our pockets the more they push gambling on us. Hats off to anybody who beats the system! – I pitty the others (poor fools).
Lifeschools total lifetime winnings: £25
54 EricKarthik
January 24th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Great list !!!
55 n00b3
January 24th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Really enjoyed reading this list. Wish every one was like it
56 Gina
January 24th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
haha i love these types of lists
57 List Maniac
January 24th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Wonderful list!!!
58 keisha9
January 24th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Nice list! I was a casino dealer and the best ones are the card counters and I have seen plenty!The other types of “winners” are not that spectacular. But to use only your mind and defeat a casino live game is big. That’s my opinion. I don’t really think that nowadays, the ones that step in a casino with the plan to cheat will succed. Surveillance today is very good from all points of view and most of the cheaters are known absolutely everywhere. They are black listed and asked nicely to leave the casino, even at the entrance.
keisha9.wordpress.com
59 Chanchita
January 24th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I don´t understand why some commenters are getting all upset about these people “stealing” from the casinos… I mean, I´m as against stealing as the next person, but everyone knows casinos cheat people out of their money. All these people did was turn it around on the casinos. Good on them, I say.
60 Voltaire
January 24th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Best list I saw in weeks. Keep it up Kjsem78
61 deeeziner
January 24th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
On the subject of casino’s CHEATING people out of their money…
Casinos are a business, and as such, have devoted fortunes to research on human nature. The big casinos have incorporated that research into developing a environment that plays upon and profits from certain innate tendencies.
The entire casino experience is designed to put the visitor at ease, and to extol a desire to put your money on the table.
Those “free” drinks aren’t for the gambler’s benefit.
Their are also very costly consequences to the casino that doesn’t adhere strictly to the gaming commission’s regulations.
That said, I enjoy the tale of the industrious few who have felt that the house advantage was a personal challenge to overcome. It feels rather good in a basic way to know that one or two people have turned the house in their favor.
I also condemn these cheater’s actions, because the direct result is a tightening up of small inconsistencies that have allowed the average innocent player to come off as a winner through the sheer power of the odds.
Thanks for the list Kjsem78. It was a good read and I had a few musings on what would I do if I were so inclined to be a Vegas thief. Hmmmm.
62 nuriko
January 24th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
21…
63 Lifeschool
January 24th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
@nuriko (62): Yes, 21 at 21
64 supacharged19
January 24th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Ken Uston?
65 Thomas
January 24th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
People just need to be more educated about what they play in the casino. Most of the games are horrendously in favor of the house while others aren’t as bad. Casinos aren’t stealing from people, there are many books and websites that can give you the house edge, odds, etc. of every casino game.
66 Kjsem78
January 24th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
@supacharged19 (64): I was torn with not putting Ken Uston on the list as he is a card counting legend. However, I definitely needed to include Edward Thorp and the MIT Blackjack Team and I didn’t want to have three entries about card counters and five related to blackjack. I wanted to include people who tackled other casino games as well so I reluctantly left him off.
67 Stefan
January 24th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
sensational list ! really well researched and interesting
68 NijimaSan
January 24th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Charles Wells? Anyone? Anyone?
69 Clark81
January 24th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Good list!
@NijimaSan (68): Read the previous comments, it’s explained why hes not on here.
70 mintzy
January 24th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Great list. I enjoyed knowing all these.
makes me want to buy their books. hehe.
71 Winston
January 24th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Copper, lead and zinc are not precious metals.
Too American.
72 trbuck1fan
January 24th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Rainman bankrupt a casino and he was a ritard
73 Dan’s Mother
January 25th, 2010 at 4:44 am
@Winston (71): Wow, it took 71 comments for the first “Too American” even though the author specifically addresses it in the introduction. Good work Winston!
74 octacore
January 25th, 2010 at 5:01 am
Interesting stuff.
75 nicoleredz3
January 25th, 2010 at 5:39 am
Very interesting stuff…
76 Sicaida
January 25th, 2010 at 7:49 am
really interesting stuff.
great list
77 Gus
January 25th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Wow I loved the list… I just started playing texas hold em… NOt much cheating to do but the odds of winning are more in your favor than black jack or other casino games…
78 Bob
January 25th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Great list. Very well-written and interesting. One quibble: “strengthened his reserve” should be “strengthened his RESOLVE.”
79 Clockwork
January 25th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
really neat list
@Winston (71): really? theres a whole article full of interesting stuff and you comment on one insignificant detail?
80 Vaami
January 25th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
You know, I LOVE those people that can cheat out a casino! I love them I love them!!!!!
My father worked for a casino in Vegas in security. These casinos bring in freaking hoards of money everyday, good job to all of those that cheat them out of a few bucks! Really – if I were smart enough to do it, I would have. As it goes, I always seem to loose my precious $20 within a few short minutes. oh well – great list!
81 Rowena
January 25th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
This is a fascinating list! I particularly liked reading about the mathematical geniuses who did this entirely with their brains, without using any other devices. And the patience of the man who worked out which numbers were most likely to turn up on every roulette wheel is astounding!
Thanks a lot for this wonderful list!
82 superbloop
January 25th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Great list
83 norkio
January 25th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I have less of a problem with the card counters than I do with the mechanical cheaters for some reason. Seems that if a person can use their intellect or natural talent for numbers to beat the game it’s somehow more fair than using a machine to beat the game.
BTW there is an ad down here that has a big eyeball rolling all round, yuck! That would go much better on one of the gross lists, LOL.
84 Luv4Tahoe
January 25th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
I have lived in Nevada my entire life, I’ve never won more than $50. You really have to spend big to win big.
P.S. Thanks to all of those who have spent big in my home state!
85 suzi
January 26th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Yeah, Astraya, I noticed that after I posted. Wouldn’t do to take card counting to listverse.
And I was not feeling at all sorry for the casinos, I just think there must be a better thing to do with a brilliant mind than this.
86 Morticia
January 26th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Really enjoyed this list – thanks!
87 Camo
January 26th, 2010 at 2:44 am
Finally… what a great list… thoroughly researched and well composed. Such sweet relief to read a list with an interesting subject matter AND perfect grammar. I must admit that I have a grudging respect for card counters; it must be a most difficult skill to execute well. To beat the casinos armed with nothing but ones intellect is truly admirable.
88 mitchsn
January 26th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Some of these guys are ‘cheats’ only in the eyes of the casino. I mean, come on, counting cards and playing the odds is smart. Not cheating. OK using a computer to keep track of the count would be cheating…but your brain?
Or the guy who has learned how to throw dice? WOW thats SKILL! How is that cheating? Major props to them.
89 Alencon
January 26th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Certainly the guys using electronic devices, substituting cards or chips after the fact are cheating, but why are card counters, the guy that studied the wheels and the guy that learned to control the dice throw “cheaters?”
If you ask me, what they’re doing is perfectly legit.
Good list by the way. Very interesting.
90 Davidation
January 26th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Very clever indeed!!!! I’m impressed with #8 LoRiggio’s “The Man With The Golden Arm”, I cant imagine people w/ pure or natural control with the dice.
91 segues
January 26th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
I live close enough to Las Vegas that I could be there, driving, in less than a day, and I’ve lived much, much closer.
I hate the place. I hate gambling. The house has a built in edge which the public just can’t, ordinarily, win out over. It’s a losers bet, every time, except for those fortunate few.
If I had money to throw away, I wouldn’t give it to Las Vegas. I’d give it to my kids, first. Then I’d give it to the Red Cross.
I can’t imagine a day ever coming when I have the resources to toss money away, but I can assure that gambling will not be on my list of ways to reduce my total amount of disposable income.
92 32
January 27th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Excellent list, I love going to the casino (careful gambler though!) so very interesting to me.
93 Swede
January 28th, 2010 at 9:38 am
I’d consider all of these guys thieves, except for the card counters, the dice throwers and Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo. Why do I think of these guys as honest gamblers? It’s because if the house provides a game built on what it thinks are laws of probability, and the house is mistaken about these laws, that can’t be blamed on the gambler who knows better. The gambling house has the responsibility to keep the roulette wheel straight. Also, why not introduce cups in the dice-throwing games like in backgammon? That is an efficient and time-honoured way of foiling trick shooters at dice.
94 Swede
January 28th, 2010 at 9:41 am
@Alencon: Ooops, I just noticed that you already said the same things I said. No plagiarism intended.
95 gustor
February 1st, 2010 at 9:49 am
now i know where the movie 21 came from…cool
96 Esther
February 1st, 2010 at 8:14 pm
awesome list! this is so interesting. i’ve never heard anyone of them other than the MIT blackjack team haha
97 Steve72
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Really good read. I don’t think I’m smart enough to count cards
98 Re-Ali
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I have an urge to gamble now
99 archangel
February 5th, 2010 at 8:53 am
I feel the need to go out gambling and trying out these methods.
100 BYoungs
February 5th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
I love roulette but I don’t have the patience that Gonzalo did.
101 jake
February 8th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
gotta love vegas
102 crisismaven
February 11th, 2010 at 7:50 am
These are fascinating stories! Thanks! (Where’dyou always get them
) However, there is a casino out there in the wilderness that can’t be beat.
103 Pavlovs Dong
February 14th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
He wasn’t a cheater, but what about Archie Karas? The 40 million dollar man? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? I’m gonna go cry for humanity.
104 Marcel
May 17th, 2010 at 1:56 am
I can beat the odds of baccarat, Marc, cost nothing to find out. Hotdoe@hotmail.com
105 Andy Hughes
June 5th, 2010 at 6:50 am
"It can be concluded that the U.S. has a bit more of a gambling culture than other countries".
If that's true, why is bookmaking illegal in 49 out of 50 states? It would seem there is less of a culture of gambling in the US than other countries seeing as you seem to ban it a lot.
106 rogerkni
June 12th, 2010 at 12:09 am
Typo in #5 — change to "resolve" in:
"Jail however only strengthened his reserve"
107 Genuine Cooler
July 13th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
None of these people would have been able to win with me near them. I have been told by hundreds, if not thousands, of people that the character William Macy played in "The Cooler" must have been based on me, that I have the worst luck imaginable, that things that have happened around me (for instance, vending machines refusing to take my money and also refusing to operate within "sight" of me; new watch batteries ceasing operation; state tax boards coming after someone I re-connected with after 19 years, etc.) are events that none of these people has ever seen before or since … Seriously, if any casino were to hire me to merely bring "bad" luck to someone by standing near them, it would be worth the casino's while. It took me 48 years to finally figure out what my "talent" is and what I should have been doing with my life all these years: Demolition, a gambling "cooler", etc. It doesn't matter how smart someone is or how well-designed something is: My mere presence will result in an adverse effect. I am really good at that …
108 Steve
July 21st, 2010 at 3:08 am
good time list, great work
109 Clark88
July 26th, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Casino gambling is huge in the US. Almost every state now has casinos. Bookmaking is somewhat of a different category.
110 Clark88
July 26th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
already brought to our attention in the comments