Gambling Cheating Devices

Card Hold Outs

Extended

Card Marking Tools

Card marking kits were used to apply marks known only to those informed or with the proper lenses designed to make the marks visible. This type of card marking had to happen when the crook had complete and private access to the cards that will later be put into play.

Daub cups were used to mark cards as a game was being dealt. They were often pinned to the inside of a shirt sleeve to give the cheat easy access.

Card Punches

Card Trimmers and Corner Rounders

Card trimmers were used to make "stripper" decks. These were decks of cards with some cut smaller than others either on the side or on the ends. The purpose of the "resizing" of some cards was to enable a skilled card mechanic to "strip" cards he wanted during a shuffle and position them in the deck were he wanted them.

Card Corner Rounders were necessarily paired with card trimmers. After a card was trimmed it was required to "re-round" the corners to make the card appear to be on the square

Shiners

Dice Cheating Devices

Dice jigs are used by cheats to load their gaffed dice with material. Dice a place on/in the jib to ensure the drill will remove only the spot and nothing more. Once the new hole is bored out the cheat adds material that is more dense than the rest of the die, thus making one face heavier than the others. Loads used ranged from tungsten to lead to gold.

Dice Edgers

This collection of dice edgers are great examples of one type of tool dice cheat have used to create what is known as "Whip Dice." Whip dice have their edges planed off to remove the sharp 90 degree angle required for precision dice. With a new "flat" edge the dice and be manipulated in a dice cup to land the way the cheat wants them to. The whip dice must be paired with a cup lined with "silky" sides in order to operate properly. If you ever shoot dice from a cup do yourself a favor and examine the interior of the cup, if it isn't "ribbed" don't play.

If you look closely you can see the edges of these dice have had the 90degree angle removed. The whip dice are paired with a specially designed cup lined with a "silky" liner in order to facilitate the whip effect. If you ever shoot dice from a cup do yourself a favor and examine the interior of the cup, if it isn't "ribbed" don't play.

The butterfly cup is so named for the secret compartment at the bottom of the cup. Gaffed dice are secreted on one side waiting for the cheat to push a hidden button on the cup and switch with with true dice.

Dice bevels were used to create gaffed dice known as "shapes." These shaped dice had a rounded surface on one or more sides. This non-flat face was intended to rock the die over to any other face, make in the rounded side more likely land face up.

These chargers were used to create a strong magnetic field in dice loaded with ferris material. These "electric" dice were manipulated by a cheat employing a magnet to make certain their preferred number appear face up.

Table can be rigged with electro-magnets that have an advantage over magnets. They can be turned on and off at the will of the cheater.

Electronic or "Mag" dice can be incorporated into many different types of games of chance.

Magnets were sometimes concealed on a cheater's person. Sometimes in the pant leg and some in a undergarment on the torso.

Gaffed dice must be put into a game in order to be used. These are different examples of how dice are concealed before and after the switches made.

Gaffed Shoes

Two ways to make a "gaffed" shoe. The first is uses a prism to reflect the value of the next card to be dealt. The second shoe leaves a window exposing the card's value. Only the dealer is in the proper position to see the next card.

This is a really interesting gaff to a baccarat shoe. A prearranged deck (cold deck) is hidden in this electronic shoe waiting to be triggered and sent to the back of the other decks at the whim of the cheat. This show is at least 70 years old.

This device was used with an electronic dealing shoe on Blackjack. Secreted within the shoe were batteries, a light, prism and a radio receiver. When the watch like device was activated it would trigger a light to turn on and reveal, with the use of a prism, the next card's value to the dealer. The dealer would then signal his confederate to hit or stand based on the value of the card.

Roulette Cheating Devices

This wheel manufactured around 100 years ago was and rigged so the dealer could push a hidden button and cause a small pin to protrude and knock the ball off the track. This was done to force the ball off the track when it was far from the numbers with the biggest bets.

Misc. Cheating Devices

Slot Cheating Devices

Slot Cheating Device - Slugs

Crude counterfeit casino slot tokens made with melted lead poured into a mold created with a legitimate slot token. Slugs were used in place of legitimate casino slot tokens.

Any source of lead could be used to create slot token slugs. Melted into a liquid state and poured into token mold created using legitimate casino tokens. Pictured here, lead shot from shotguns shells were often used.

Mold created when a legitimate casino slot token is pressed into a pliable raw material contained in a rigid structure. Bondo, clay and other materials were used.

Slugs were at one time a popular choice for low level cheats. They were relatively easy to make and provided an illegal income stream for the cheats. Technology has made slugs obsolete. Slot machines no accept take metal tokens for play, instead bill validators and ticket readers are the "one armed" bandit's fuel.