Thought we were done giving you the ins and outs on how to beat the system? Well it turns out there are plenty more slots cheats where our original list came from – because the human mind is nothing if not ingenious! Take a look at more slots trickery and marvel at what people did to try and manipulate Lady Luck into paying out for them. And then also remember that none of these hacks work anymore, and gambling is all about luck, chance, and random outcomes. Sorry, not sorry.

Piano Wire
It sounds like an old system from the early days of slot machines, but in fact this slots scheme was used fairly recently in the 1980s (which we’re convinced was only 20 years ago, and no one can tell us otherwise). Who knew – all you needed to win at slots was a piano wire, a team of players, and a little resourcefulness.

So how exactly did it work? Well, in 1982 a team of slots scammers set out with one mission in mind – to beat a slot machine in Caesars Boardwalk Regency Casino, in Atlantic City. By opening the machine and inserting 20-inch long piano wires into the mechanism, the team was able to pull on the wires and manipulate the reels.

Miraculously, the scheme actually worked, to the tune of a $50,000 jackpot! Unfortunately for them, the entire heist was caught on camera, and the winning player was arrested before even making it outside. What’s that we can hear playing? It’s that same old song – the house always wins.

Top-Bottom Joint
Now here’s something we never would have thought of as a slots cheat, and honestly it has to be seen to be believed. Known as ‘top-bottom’ joint, this crafty tool was a favourite of con artists in the 70s and 80s, and if used cleverly, could result in huge slots payouts.

Essentially, a top-bottom joint was a tool of two parts: the top part being a metal rod, with the end bent in the shape of the letter Q, and the bottom part being a long wire. By inserting the top of the joint into the coin slot, and the bottom into the coin chute, scammers could jam the slot machine and manipulate it into paying out all its coins. Not bad for a few minutes’ work – but also a con that was found out, and eventually rendered obsolete. No more scamming up in this joint!

Hacking
Of course at some point we’d get to actual hacking – it’s just surprising that it took as long as the 2000s for this scam to emerge. And in fact, the hack was so sophisticated that it wasn’t even immediately noticed – it took actual reports to slot machine makers Novomatic and Aristocrat Leisure for them to discover that their machines were paying out more often than they were programmed to do.

Had an illegal computer program been uploaded to disrupt the machines and cause more frequent payouts? In fact, the answer is far simpler than that. Using nothing more than his brainpower, a computer hacker dubbed ‘Alex’ had managed to crack the codes used both by a Novomatic slot machine, and an Aristocrat Mark IV machine.

Armed with this inside knowledge, he built a computer program that would allow him to know exactly when to hit the ‘Spin’ button in order to win. After enlisting the help of a team of players, Alex was able to determine down to the millisecond the best time to press the button, and after installing the program on his team’s phones, set out to score.

While it may sound like the perfect scam, one team member’s suspicious activity of holding his phone close to the slots and only pressing the Spin button at certain intervals soon caught the attention of casino security, and he was quickly arrested. While Alex has never been caught, a number of his players have, and casinos across the world are wise to the scam. And since maths was never our strong point at school, we’re going to stick to the tried and tested method of placing a legal bet in order to win. Much safer, and much more enjoyable that way!

Happy Spinning 🙂