The art of Casino Cheating comes in many disguises, from grinders plunking shaved slugs into slot machines for "free pulls" to highly organized teams of players and casino employees systematically bilking casinos out of large sums of money. It's a simple game of cat and mouse, cheaters and casino bosses alike usually say. Once the casinos pounce a paw on one mouse another one with a new unheard of scam takes its place. With the advent of robotic eye-in-the-sky video surveillance technology, only the most daring and talented casino cheaters evade capture long enough to actually enjoy the fruits of their labors. Most of them get caught... and go to jail. For a long time. Dig?

For as long as there have been coin operated mechanisms, there have been slugs. Slugs are quarter or nickel sized discs of metal, identical in shape and weight sometimes with grooves on the side to make them look like a quarter. The principle is simple, drop a worthless piece of metal into the slot machine and eventually some real money falls out (and some slugs) - when you've got enough buckets of quarters (or have run out of slugs) you bolt the casino leisurely with your loot in tow. Nowadays casinos have optical barriers and very strict weight tolerances for acceptable change, that's why a lot of your old 1950s quarters fall right through the machine to the tray.

The second contraption slot cheats used was the trusty 'coin on a string trick.' Simply take a quarter, drill a small hole at 12 o'clock, thread it like a fish hook, drop the quarter in until the credit registers then pull it out. Pull the arms and make some money. This method is pretty archaic in slot cheat land, any and all slot attendants/cocktail waitresses will see this un-suave maneuver and alert security immediately. Nowadays, slot machines pull coins in then twist and rotate them before credit is given in such a way that this cheesy trick just won't work. If a casino catches you trying this, they just might laugh you outta town before arresting you.

Bucket snatching is another favorite past time in the slot pit. The thief tosses a couple of coins to the side opposite of where the players bucket of change is. The players attention is diverted to the ground, usually they bend over to pick up the stray coins (thinking they dropped them) the thief grabs the bucket of change and bolts, and the player is left with a couple of quarters - until security returns with the bucket and the thief a few minutes later.

Straight up Stealing happens at all table games, particularly Craps where bets are many and players can be easily distracted. 'Railing' is the act of snatching chips from other players racks while standing at the craps tables. Railers usually work in pairs... one snatches chips from the prey then hands them to the accomplice behind them who vanishes onto the strip once a decent amount of chips have been taken or if the prey begins to notice something's fishy. Craps cheats also scam orphan winners from the table too... since craps is a pretty complicated game to follow and even more complicated to deal, players sometimes forget what bet is theirs and leave paid winners on the felt. Always keep your eyes on your bets and ask questions if you don't think you've been paid correctly or if you suspect that someone has poached your winner.

Casino cheats use a bunch of standardized chip maneuvers to gain advantage at casinos. Capping, is the act of adding to a winning chip stack depending on what cards the player holds. Hand-held blackjack players usually do this by sliding an extra chip underneath their chip stack when they tuck their cards in signifying they're going to "stand". Conversely, pinching is the act of removing chips from a bet based on the hand they hold. Players do this by tucking in their hand with one or more chips below the cards signifying "stand" then they decide to "take another look" scooping the chips beneath the cards out into their chip stack then tuck their cards back in.

Another popular past-time amongst casino cheats is the technique of past-posting. Past posting gets its name from horse-racing where bettors would phone in bonafide winner bets to their bookie bets after the race has been run, or posted (hence, past-posting). One way craps cheats do this is to cap their odds with more chips after an point has been made, hopefully when the dealer at their end of the table is pre-occupied with sweeping away losers or some other distraction. Craps past-posters usually do this when the dice are being thrown to the opposite side of the table from where they are standing - all eyes are on the dice at the other end of the table.

Blackjack players historically have tried to reduce house advantage by gaining insight onto the dealers hole card. They do this in various ways including strategically placing shiners (mirrors) in their hands to try and sneak a peak of the dealers hole card as it comes off the deck or out of the shoe. Some teams try and spot hole cards from other tables then signal to their players at the table from across the pit. Still other players take advantage of sloppy dealer techniques by sitting at 3rd base and trying to get a look at the hole card as it comes off the deck. Blackjack cheaters have notoriously tried to gain deck insight by marking cards as well. Card cheats mark 10 value cards with a small fingernail print, a slight bend, or even invisible ink (which can only bee seen by red tinted sunglasses or contacts - the red-tinted Plexiglas used card holders and shoes were developed to thwart this practice).

While the act of counting cards IS NOT illegal in Nevada, the casinos do have the right to bar you from entering their establishment if they suspect that you are an 'advantage player.' Advantage teams have sprung up (as exposed in "Bringing Down the House") where teams will post players at numerous BJ tables whose only job is to keep a running count of the deck composition. When the count gets to a pre-determined number signifying heavy advantage to the player - the counter signals a "super player" to come over to the table and make a giant bet (which, based on statistics is usually going to win). The casinos can't suspect that the super player has been counting because they haven't even been at the table. However, the eye in the sky easily tracks these super players and watches where they strike, the similarities of players on the tables they strike at and information gleaned from other casinos about Blackjack Teams that have been working in town. Some blackjack teams are so bold that exchange cards at the table during play when dealers are distracted in the hopes of making guaranteed winners out of junk hands.

Roulette cheaters use many of the same techniques as blackjack players, however they have to do these by slight and speed of hand to avoid being caught by dealers and pit bosses. The whole roulette layout is ripe for capping, past posting, pinching and snatching bets. Usually roulette cheats work in teams where one distracts the dealer while another places a winning column bet. More brazen roulette cheats will go so far as capping bets underneath the marker as the dealer sweeps away losing bets. This is dangerous work and one false or unsure move will surely get you backroom-ed and trespassed from the casino. For a full-on expose of Roulette cheating techniques check out Richard Marcus's autobiography "American Roulette - How I Turned The Odds Upside Down - My Wild Twenty-Five-Year Ride Ripping Off The World's Casinos".

In addition to the aforementioned railing and orphan poaching, Craps cheats employ other techniques to help them get the bones to roll their way. Nowadays, the stickman and the boxman keep their eyes on the dice at all times, however sometimes a set of hot dice sneak into a game. What are hot dice? Hot dice are dice that are weighted slightly on some sides so certain numbers continue to be thrown. Dice cheats also employ 'gluing' to dice - some stickyish pine tar like substance to the sides of the dice that they cheat wants to be face down. Dice cheats also toss the dice in certain ways so certain numbers always appear. One of these techniques - sliding - is done by tossing the dice outwards with out spin so they will land and slide down the felt. Vegas Gaming Regulations state that dice must hit the back wall of the table (and the bounce-inducing angled-rubber wall guard) for the throw to be valid. One short throw will usually get a warning from the boxman... repeated short tosses will get you bounced from the game.

Cheating in Vegas takes equal parts balls and brains. Balls to attempt and brains to outwit the myriad of techniques developed by the house to pounce the mouse. Cheaters often say that getting paid isn't the hard part, its keeping a steady stream of winnings without raising suspicions and therefore getting booted, back roomed, busted, booked or sent up the river.

Griffin Investigations keep a database of known and suspected card sharps, casino cheats and other creepy crawlies. They continually fax information directly to the casino pits when known cheats and teams have been spotted in town and have developed facial matching technology so casinos can quickly send your eye-in-the-sky mug shot to them for instant identification. They ain't fucking around, yo.