The Most Famous Casino Cheats and Scandals in History
3 min read
Cheating casinos is both dangerous and illegal, yet some cheaters have managed to scam casinos out of millions in earnings through this illicit practice.
Over the years, many infamous casino scandals and cheats have made headlines. From card counting to slot machine fraud and collusion, these incidents have had devastating repercussions for both those involved and casinos impacted.
The MIT Blackjack Team
The MIT Blackjack Team has become one of the most infamous casino cheats and scandals ever. Their exploits have been featured in books (Bringing Down the House, Busting Las Vegas and The House Advantage), movies (21 and The Last Casino) and television programs alike.
Bill Kaplan, an MBA graduate of Harvard, founded the original MIT team. Raised in a conservative family, Kaplan became intrigued with card counting when introduced to it by someone at his workplace.
He trained a group of MIT students in his technique and began training them to use a mathematical system that would bring in consistent profits year after year. Their numbers soon expanded into almost 80 players spread throughout Cambridge, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California Illinois Washington.
The Roselli Brothers
One of the most infamous casino cheats and scandals ever to occur involved a group known as Roselli Brothers. They were widely considered some of the most adept scammers of their era and managed to defraud casinos nationwide of almost $40 million over six years.
Their scheme involved using computer hacking techniques to rob identities from people with perfect credit ratings and then open accounts at casinos with those identities, depositing $50,000 into each account to show that they meant business.
Their scheme went undetected until they suddenly began winning big in Las Vegas in just one night, which caught management off guard and prompted police to arrest them on fraud charges.
The Lumiere Place Scandal
Casinos have been the site of some of the most notorious scandals and cheats in history, providing evidence of their dark side as well as any associated risk from organized crime groups.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Blackjack Team was one of the most notorious cheating scandals in casino history. A group of students at MIT used their mathematical prowess to win millions by beating casinos at blackjack using mathematical strategies that they learned in class.
Lumiere Place Scandal was another infamous casino cheating scandal, where three men used computer devices to circumvent slot machine betting restrictions and win over $1 Million by correctly guessing on 76 separate occasions.
The Don Johnson Scandal
Don Johnson was one of the most infamous cheats and scandals of his era, living an extravagant life filled with alcohol, drugs and women.
John Johnson of Miami Vice and Nash Bridges had numerous marriages and affairs during three decades on screen, yet success and luxurious toys weren’t enough to keep him satisfied.
But eventually the actor found his identity again and took control of his life again, including giving up alcohol and drug use as well as attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and getting back in shape.
The Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal is one of the most infamous scandals and cheating cases in baseball history. A group of Chicago White Sox players was charged with deliberately throwing away the 1919 World Series for money, leading to multiple indictments against them and subsequent suspensions from baseball.
No matter your account of events, an alleged scheme was underway several weeks before the series between White Sox first baseman Chick Gandil and gambler Sport Sullivan that may or may not have begun with him being paid out as the starting pitcher for Chicago White Sox in exchange for favorable odds during games.
Numerous other players were implicated, including utility infielder Fred McMullin and star outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson – both admitted taking money from criminals but declined to report them; several more players were banned from playing baseball until further investigations could take place.
