Has anyone ever seen a player cheat in a Casino?

Hi Everyone. The title says it all. I have seen dealers make payout mistakes where the players don't say a thing and pocketed the chips. This includes myself and this has happened a handful of times and why bother to point that out? But this isn't really cheating since the players did nothing to unfairly gain an advantage.

I did see someone do a craps call bet of $10 on the 4 and 10 and the very next roll was a 7-out and that player walked off without paying the $20. He left the casino before anyone could do anything.

But yeah, I've never witnessed anyone actually cheating in the Casino where they would switch cards, manipulate chips on winning or losing hands, etc. Anyone have any juicy stories?

 

have only read about it in books. Have not seen anything first hand

 

Plenty of angle shoots at poker tables. Up to you if that counts.
I saw one guy try to add chips to a BJ bet when he hit an ace as the first card but the dealer stopped him. He was drunk (or acting that way) and not actually sure if he had seen the first card come up as he had been messing with his chips as the dealer started and had started moving chips at the same time the dealer grabbed the card from the shoe (he was in the first seat). So I don’t *think* he was actually cheating and was just drunk, which is how the casino handled it, but this all may have been part of the act I suppose. He went broke the next hand anyway and left so nothing came of it.

 

Yeah, I was in Reno playing blackjack. All the tables were packed, and there were people hovering behind us watching the game, ready to swoop in. A guy behind me asked if he could give me some money to play my side bet since I wasn't playing it. No problem, I've had people play behind me before. Guy hands me $20 and I cut out some chips on the side. Dealer has no problem with him making my side bet directly, rather than me having to touch the chips.

Well the guy goes on a run and turns his $20 up to $150+. Then he starts upping his bet - $15 - $25 now, and of course the deck runs cold for him. With ~25 left, he decides to sit out a hand, and of course I hit a decent payout (straight I think, my 2 cards + dealer's up card). I'm on third base, and as soon as the dealer goes to first base to ask if he wants a card, the guy past-posts a green chip on the side bet.

Dealer comes over to me and sees the chip, and I'm kind of awkwardly standing there since I have not been betting this nor even touching the bets. Dealer calls the floor over, and the guy behind me grabs the chip back and walks off quickly. Floor comes over and I told him exactly what happened - guy was playing behind me and past-posted. Floor was very professional about it, called security immediately and the game kept going. Not sure if they ever found him.

 

Not sure if they were cheating or if they were trying to grab chips and run, but I watched PH security chase someone down, put them in cuffs and walk them into a back area. It was pretty impressive, they even used a bike when he got outside.

 

I was the victim of collusion in a poker game. It can happen when three players are in a pot, one on each side of the mark. The first player and the mark both get hands, and the third player gets a signal from player 1 to keep raising. Then player 3 drops out or mucks his very likely worthless hand on the river. Third time I noticed it I left the table, kicking myself for staying that long and for being a stranger playing with locals. It was the one and only time I ever played in a Washington casino, and I had sensed that there was something screwy about the video poker machines so I switched games. Went back to VP the next morning, won two big hands on very unlikely draws, left a winner. Learned about VLT's later.

The same thing happened once in a home game, with the hosting husband and wife as the team. I picked up on that right away, and stayed out of every pot that had both of them in it. Left as soon as good manners allowed.

 

I honestly don't see any of that as cheating, per se. I always do point out dealer mistakes, whether they're for or against me, because I think it's the right thing to do and good karma, but I wouldn't call it cheating if you don't. Similarly, on the call bets, that could potentially be shady, but could also be an instance of the dealer doing a favor for someone they know.

In terms of actual cheating, I've never personally seen it. And to be fair, if I noticed it, you can be damn sure that the dealer, the pit, and/or the eye will notice it.

 

Reno, circa 1979. Playing blackjack at the CalNeva. I was counting cards and the deck became highly positive. A scruffy looking guy places a large stack of chips on the spot to my right and wins. The dealer knocks his stack over and it contained a couple of red drink tokens that were somewhat the same width and color as a $5 chip. They paid him then 86ed him.

My father and I played dollar slots at a now closed, small casino on the strip – can't remember the name but it started with a "C". Anyway, the machine was hitting and as I scooped into the bucket, I noticed that about 1/4 of the "coins" were fake blanks. I pointed it out to a staff member and he thought that I may have been the criminal. I was nervous, pissed, and didn't really know what to do. They eventually paid me.

Then there was the time that I cheated, kinda-sorta. I had an early breakfast at the old Nevada Club next to Harrah's in Reno. I had a pocked full of change and there was a 10¢ slot near the cash register. I slipped a few dimes into it and it couldn't lose. What luck! Then I realized that regardless of what came up on the reels, I would win. Talk, about an approach/avoidance situation. I was perhaps 28 years old and played it a 2-3 times more after I discovered the mistake. Nervous? You bet'cha. I scooped perhaps $40 of dimes in a bucket and slunk out. Guess I'm a thief.

 

I was at a Roulette table once with a friend, and there was one other guy there (that we didn't know). I won a bet on a number straight up and the dealer paid out, and I left the original chip on the number for the next spin. A few seconds later, before the next round of betting could begin, I saw the stranger reach over and take my chip off the layout and put it with his chips, obviously trying to hide everything with his hands cupped around his chips. I just stared at him a few seconds, and said, "Uh, I think that was my chip." He said very quietly, "Oh, sorry," and I think he mumbled something else that I couldn't hear, and he handed me back the chip. I don't know what his plan was, since it was Roulette and we were using color coded chips. He was obviously trying to pull a fast one, though; you could just tell by his body language.

I have seen cheating in home poker games, and I mean real pro card mechanic stuff, not just miscounting chips or sloppily palming a card. It's quite impressive when you see something like that; it's not flashy at all like a magic trick. Things just...happen.

 

Multiple times at Jack Cleveland I have saw teams scoot the dice at craps. I don’t say a word. Not my business to tell casino. They should know.. I tell the dealer my bets are off, go take a restroom break.. I don’t want accused of being one of them

 

Not to hijack this thread, but …

My mother's cheating story. During the Great Depression, my recently widowed mother was desperate for a job and landed one, I believe it was the J&M Cafe and Card Room on first avenue in Seattle. She was a waitress. She told stories of how the mechanics (dealers) would shuffle the deck and have "the little lady" cut the cards. The cards would be slightly offset and she had to cut them perfectly. If she didn't do it correctly, there was hell to pay. After certain players were fleeced, she would be given a couple of dollars to slip to the victim for fare home. These guys would be so grateful that they would invariably return next payday.

Mom loved action and begged me to take her to Reno or Vegas, and Indian casinos when they started out. She would play blackjack and craps and flirt with the guys.

 

Not a cheating story. But I've seen one time where a dealer who paid someone out when they weren't supposed to but then another player pointed it out to the dealer/pit! Of course they had to take back the money. The player had no benefit to point this out.

 

Scoot the dice? What does that mean? You mean switch the dice for loaded ones?

 

Once at the Fremont I was at a crowded craps table. There was this friendly guy that wouldn't stop talking. It seems he knew how to play craps but only basically. He always was asking questions about the middle bets on the table and the odds, etc.

I was playing at the last slot of the table, right next to the dealer and he was playing first slot left of the stick. So I had a good view of him as he played. He also had a friend at the hook of the table a couple of slots over. They were constantly jawing at each other, making jokes and the other players would chime in and laugh. Everyone having a great time.

This went on for a while then suddenly a group of suits came over and confronted him, accusing him of past posting. He argued loudly against it and the suits offered to bring him in the back to the security room and view the tapes. He and his buddy quickly left so fast I swear I saw smoke in their exit, lol!

Another time at the craps table I was the criminal. Yes I was a thief. The table was so crowded I took a mans winning chips when the point was made. We were jammed so close together I thought his chips were mine. He quietly told the dealer that he made a passline bet with odds and now it's gone. The dealer, who was all flustered by the crowded and yelling table said that once the line is paid it is up to the players to watch their chips.

After thinking about it, I realized I took his chips. I apologized to him profusely and gave him back his chips plus a red chip to say sorry. He didn't say anything. But he took his chips and left. Made me feel bad.

 

This has happened to me once and man that pisses me off. I literally told the guy who wasn't even playing at the table to shut his hole. If the dealer's error doesn't affect you, it's none of your business to point it out. Simple as that.

 

I was at The D. Certainly not a cheat, but I got some weird looks from people using my long arms to play with a side view on this machine. Nabbed 3 balls out of 5 attempts. Reminded me of playing at the grocery store as a kid. I'm not sure what they would do if I pulled out a shoe string to line the claw with the prize like I used to do though.

 

It's basically throwing the dice where one die is thrown fairly but the other die is just slid along the table with a spin to it, so one number stays face up the whole time. If done well it gives the illusion that both dice are thrown fairly but you are able to control the number on one of them.

 

I guess since we're talking about cheats I guess I'll tell my story about the opening weekend at MGM Grand in 1993. Yeah, the entrance was walking into a Lion's mouth.

From the wiki article:
"The resort's original entrance consisted of a giant lion head, made of fiberglass and blocky in appearance, with visitors entering through the lion's mouth.[10] The lion was a cartoon-like version of MGM's logo, Leo the Lion. The MGM Grand performed unusually poorly with Asian gamblers in its first years of existence; a study by the management found that many Chinese patrons found it bad luck to walk through the jaws of a lion and avoided the hotel as a result, part of why the entrance was renovated to remove this feature". But, that's another story.

I was playing $1 slots and some of the $1 tokens looked "strange", but I didn't take serious notice of it until I went to cash out.

The cashier took a number of tokens out of the rack (the "strange" ones). I asked her why and she said "they're slugs". I looked at one and sure enough, they were lead and pressed with the MGM Grand token logos. I told her, I can identify the machine that I got them from. Security walked with me to the machine and verified that there were slugs in the hopper. I was paid for the total amount of my cash in.

 

I would point out if the dealer short changes a player or took the player's bet when player should have won... but not the other way around. Now, honestly, if I was the player and got paid more or got paid when I shouldn't have - I would point it out only if I like the dealer or if I like the other players to not ruin the vibe. Otherwise, I'd leave my bet/winnings there for a bit longer to give the dealer a chance to correct it without me pointing it out until just before the next deal.

 

Ah yes. I am familiar with this dice cheating method. Basically you want the one sliding dice to be slid with a 6 showing so you can bet on all numbers 8 to 12 to hit. You would only lose if the 2nd dice rolls to be a 1 to total 7. To be honest, if I saw a group of guys doing this, I'd be playing! LOL.