How Can You Cheat at Slot Machines? Is It Possible?

How Can You Cheat at Slot Machines? Is It Possible?

From a technical point of view, it is possible to cheat in all sorts of games. From traditional casino slots, land-based slots, table games, and more – the world of cheating is so huge that it is actually difficult to tell how far some people can go when they’re looking to win some money in an illegitimate way.

With that out of the way, cheating has become much more difficult as time has gone by. All sorts of casinos -both land-based and online- have made it their goal to create some of the most secure systems to prevent players from cheating the machines. It's very easy to be added to a list of people banned from casinos by cheating, too.

Slot machines, in particular, have always been prone to cheaters to exploit. The issue of land-based casino cheating has been around for decades, but it seems to be much more controlled as of 2020. If you want to try slot machines online, TheCasinowizard recommends the following casinos:

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If you’ve ever had at least some curiosity about the world of casino cheaters, you’ve probably heard of the name “Carmichael” before. In this article, we’ll be exploring the most common ways in which people cheat both in online casinos as well as in their land-based counterparts. Please do not attempt to use any of these methods if you intend not to get in trouble. The people who have invented them or attempted them have usually gotten into serious issues with the law (remember what happened to Tommy Glenn Carmichael?). Even though one could theoretically cheat on almost any casino game, we’ll be focusing on slot cheaters and the methods that they use.

Cheating in Land-Based Slot Machines

Naturally, with land-based casinos giving you actual access to the gambling machines, it is much more common to see cheaters acting in these sorts of places rather than online. People from all over the world have at least thought about doing it once – and it’s more than understandable given how human nature works. Imagine sitting there, in front of a machine that could change your life with the click of a button. It’s too tempting not to think about it, isn’t it? A simple cheat could be the difference between you winning a million dollars or leaving with your pockets as empty (or emptier) than they were when you came into the casino. That has been the thought process of many gamblers across history, and that’s why they have developed methods that make it possible for people to cheat in online slots.

The Light Wand Method

The Light Want Method is, arguably, Tommy Glenn Carmichael’s most popular cheating method. This guy had an innate ability to create slot cheating devices, and that’s what made him make a lot of money before he got too greedy and casinos caught him.

Basically, the Light Want Method allows players to use a small light want with which they can activate the sensors of the slot machine, triggering the jackpot mechanism. It’s like activating the winning feature of the casino machine without you even having to land any consecutive symbols – all you need to do is shine the light towards a specific part of the machine and the jackpot will trigger. This is a tricky cheating method for the sheer fact that you need to be sure no one is watching you. It’s easy to spot someone shining a small device into a jackpot machine, even though it is small in size and it should be relatively easy to conceal.

Cracking the Patterns

This is another popular cheating method that might not be possible in most modern slot machines, but it’s one that has been used across the history of gambling and it has yielded some very good results for those who have been lucky enough not to get caught doing it. Slot machines tend to have a pattern to make them work the way they do, and it is possible for people to crack the pattern if they are experts. There is one problem, though. In order to crack the pattern, you need to have access to a video of how the slot machine works. You see where we’re going with this, right? People who want to do this method will need to take a video of themselves playing in the slot machine, or at least have access to footage of the slot machine which they will need to access at home before they can crack any of the information encoded into the device. Basically, players will need access to video of the slot machine being played, so they can then study the patterns of the machine and determine how and when you should play depending on how things go for the machine. Online slot machines tend to work with an RNG, which makes it even more difficult for players to cheat in these slots and turns them into devices that are much more difficult to crack.

Using Left-Behind Money to Play

Even though this isn’t technically cheating, it’s still very immoral and we strongly advise you against doing it. Some people, when playing in land-based casinos, tend to forget about some of their coins and leave them behind in some slot machines. It has happened before that people hunt for the slot machines in which others have played, only to poach after the coins that they leave behind so they can then play with these coins themselves. It is very unfortunate for some players when a cheater comes by and uses the coins they left behind only to win a jackpot in one of the slot machines – or even the same slot machine in which they were playing before. As we said, even though this is not cheating on the slot machine per se, you’re basically playing using someone else’s money. It’s as close to theft as you’re going to get, and we strongly suggest you avoid doing this if you want to stay away from trouble. If anyone who works for the casino sees you do this, you will get kicked out.

Cheating in Online Slots

Here comes the most important part of the review: how to cheat on online slots. This is arguably one of the most searched questions by people who enjoy online slots, as it’s common to wonder if they can make more money or win more consistently by playing certain patterns or even using external software in their favor. Let us be clear: it is almost impossible to cheat in online slots. And this doesn’t only apply to you; the casino itself will also find it difficult to cheat on players, as long as it has been audited by external sources and made to be revised for the consequences of their actions. You will notice that some online casinos don’t hold proper licenses, and these are the ones that you want to avoid. However, when it comes to the majority of online casinos out there, they’re all legit and their games cannot be cheated on nor can they cheat on you when you play them. There are, however, certain ways in which players could cheat in online slots. Let’s take a look at them and see why you might be better off not trying any of these.

Abusing Bonuses

The infamous phrase “bonus abuse” is one that you’ve probably seen many times when playing in online casinos. It’s actually very commonly used by all sites when they give away bonuses, as they don’t want their players taking advantage of them and winning absurd sums of cash by utilizing exploits that are often left behind by the casino. There is one problem with this, though. There are many things that online casinos catalog as bonus abuse, which makes it difficult to tell whether you’re cheating (in the eyes of the casino) or playing smart.

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For example, let’s say that you want to place a bet on online table games with bonus money. You decide to go for a roulette bet, so you place your money on the red. You bet just enough to comply with the wagering requirements, or you place your bets on games that have no risk of you losing. Zero-risk bets, or bets that really make it hard for you to lose, are often considered bonus abuse. That doesn’t mean that they are illegal, but online casinos would rather have you not doing that. They make it too easy for you to walk away with a profit, and the house always wins – remember? In any case, opening multiple accounts to play with the same bonus over and over again is also considered bonus abuse and that would be breaking the terms and conditions of the casino. It’s not illegal, but it is cheating!

Straight-up Hacking

Well, this one is a bit more obvious than the rest, but there are certain types of software that serve a shadier purpose than others. Online casino security has grown extremely tight in recent years, and it’s almost impossible for you to use any type of software to manipulate the outcome of a game and turn the tides in your favor. However, people who have the know-how on how to do this tend to end up making a lot of money whilst playing online slots. If you have software that allows you to hack casino games, you’re more than likely going to end up making a killing in rewards. This is also the easiest way to get caught while cheating on online slots, so you’d be doing a hell of a job if you manage to go undetected. Part of the reason as to why it’s so easy to detect online slot cheaters is that the slots are presented by a developed who doesn’t want to lose money, and they’re hosted in an online casino that also hates to lose money. If you cheat, you’re costing them money. If they don’t catch you, they will never know you cheated, but they still lose money. Again, you probably see where we’re going with this. Online casinos will always do their absolute best to stop you from hacking and the current state of things is actually pretty close to being bulletproof. You’re going to need some very powerful tools to overcome them and it’s likely not going to be worth it anyway.

Understanding PRNG

Online slot machines work with randomness as their main selling point, but how random truly is the program that makes them run? Are online slot machines really random or is it possible to read the outcome of the game with some sort of expertise? That’s when the infamous PRNG comes in. RNG stands of Random Number Generator, which is how all online machines should work, but there are some that have what we call a PRNG – a Pseudorandom Number Generator. This means that the outcome of each round might appear to be random, but it actually isn’t. From the eyes of someone who isn’t an expert on this subject, it’s basically impossible to tell whether a machine is using an actual RNG or a shady PRNG. However, if you’re truly an expert on the subject and you know what is random and what isn’t, you might be able to tell which machines are using PRGN. If you can do this, you need to study the patterns and see what events trigger certain symbols. You might be able to decipher how the machine works and walk away with some cash in a non-legit way.

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Is It Actually Possible to Cheat in Online Slots?

As you can see from the three methods that we described above, it is actually possible to cheat in online slots. It is very difficult and your chances of getting caught increase as time goes by, but of course it’s possible to cheat. Will you risk your reputation to do so? You shouldn’t. In fact, it’s as ill-advised to cheat in online casinos as it is to cheat in land-based ones. The reason for this is rather simple: many of the world’s best online casinos are operated by a handful of companies. On many occasions, they share their blacklists with one another, which means that cheating in one online casino could get you banned from a vast number of sites at once! There is no need to cheat. You just need to be aware that the casino is always poised to win. If you play for long enough, the casino always wins – even if you manage to hit a jackpot. Cheating won’t do anything but get you into further trouble!

Last updated  February 28, 2024
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About the author

Marco

Marco

Chief Content Writer

Marco

Chief Content Writer

Marco is an experienced casino writer with more than half a decade of gambling-related work on his back. He took a keen interest in gambling as a young adult and started writing expert content for the casino and sports betting niche in 2015. Now, he specializes in online slots, table games, and sports betting – producing well-researched content on all fronts of the iGaming world.

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