They've been around for more than a century and they've attracted people from all over the world. As fun as they are, however, there have always been people out there attempting to cheat online slot machines. It used to be easy to hack one of these offerings, or at least a lot easier than it is today. The original mechanical titles could be duped by the use of shaved coins, coins on the end of a string, or a metal tool known as the Monkey's Paw. Shaving consists of sanding the edges of the coins down until they are thin enough that they pass straight through without becoming trapped along the way.
The Monkey's Paw?
The Monkey's Paw is a tool that would only work on old style mechanical offerings. Essentially, it was a piece of steel with a hook at the end that the fraudster would stick in the payout chute to push up the payout door. When a gambler would win a small prize, they could force the door to stay open and release more coins than it normally would.
Trick of the Light
Another trick that worked on older titles but will not work on the newer computerized ones is using light beams to essentially 'trick' them. This would confuse the console's inner workings, making it impossible for it to keep track of the proper payout tables, leading to overpayment. It could even make the game award prizes that had not even been won yet.
Modern Machines Are Smarter
Computer-powered offerings are much harder to defeat. The only way to cheat these is to get inside and reprogram its brain, and most casinos won't let you get close enough to try. Coins are very rarely ever used anymore, so that rules out shaving and plugging, and all casinos are heavily populated by security cameras, making it nearly impossible to even get a shot.
Online Impossibility
There is quite literally no way to cheat online slot machines. The games are constantly checked and rechecked for fairness and randomness, and hackers have a better chance of cracking the local bank then they do of breaking through the encryption that most internet based casinos employ. These sites pride themselves on their security, and the ability to provide a safe and secure play area for all of their users.
Cheating Isn't Advised
It doesn't matter what tactics users employ; eventually, they will be caught. It is inevitable. As fraudsters have gotten cleverer, casinos have gotten even better at catching them. The small payout that a person might receive from their exploits is nothing compared to the legal fees that they will have to pay out once the casino sues them for cheating. It doesn't matter where a player chooses to place his or her wager. There is no way to effectively cheat online slots machines, and the land-based ones are almost as difficult to crack.
