It’s no surprise that casinos are targeted by casinos cheats and scammers, they can generate around $70 billion in revenue each year, which is an astonishing amount – you know what they say, the casino always wins!
There have been several ways players have scammed land-based casino and these include colluding with dealers or other players, spying on other player’s hands, card marking and playing with counterfeit chips. Casinos have had to innovate and use technology to their advantage to catch cheaters, including cutting-edge sophisticated technology “NORA” which cleverly identifies groups of scammers trying to cheat in the casino. But how do the scammers cheat in an online casino where technology has eliminated or at least limited the ability to cheat in the more traditional ways?
In the majority of online casino games, the only way it is possible for a player to cheat is to take advantage of software bugs or to hack into the random number generator. Some players have tried to cheat at online poker games, especially when online poker rooms were first introduced and there was a vulnerability in the RNG which allowed players to figure out that it wasn’t completely random. However, things have changed considerably since the early days and RNG are checked by regulators to ensure they are robust and always produce random results so they can’t be manipulated by players.
More recently in online casinos, there have been several attempts to cheat where a player has attempted to gain access to an admin online account which would enable them to view which hands other players had so they could subsequently win the game. This type of scheme was known as the “Super-user Scandal” and is probably one of the most renowned online cheating scandals. Of course, like the majority of players who cheat, their winning streak raised eyebrows and other players became suspicious of the “super-user” and they were then caught out in the scam.
Other ways players have attempted to gain an advantage is to create automated bots which have been programmed to bet in accordance with certain strategies consistently instead of playing themselves. Collusion is still a problem in online gambling just as it is in land-based casinos and some players have tried to collude with other players, sharing information and working together in order to win and split the winnings especially in games like poker. Online casinos are well aware of this and have robust anti-collusion measure in place to stop such behaviours ruining the game for other players.
Is cheating worth it?
No matter how hard some players try, the players who successfully cheat offline and online casinos are few and far between as technology has prevented scammers from foiling casinos. According to the Worldwide Casino Consulting, less than 0.1% of casino revenue ended up in the hands of players who scammed the casino and the vast majority of those who cheat casinos are caught in the act and are prosecuted.
So, in case you were wondering, trying to cheat an online casino isn’t the brightest idea and really isn’t worth the consequences!
