Exposed Scams in the Casino Sector at the World Game Protection Conference Announced
Casino Cons and the Top Con Artists of 2024
Casinos, whether they're in Europe, the United States, or anywhere around the world, have faced their fair share of tricky situations this year. The World Game Protection Conference in Las Vegas recently gathered experts to discuss the dirtiest tricks casino crooks have up their sleeves this year.
The conference's grand finale saw attendees, mostly surveillance professionals, vote on the year's top scams. Not surprisingly, the cut-card scam took the top spot. Conference host Willy Allison, as well as casino consultant Bill Zender, highlighted eight of the top scams of 2024.
While the cut-card scam may sound like a new one, it has been causing trouble since 2010. According to Zender, the scam is back with a vengeance and has cost casinos an estimated $1 million to $1.5 million over the past year (though they admit this is just the known amount). Cases have been reported in Zurich last summer, South Africa in 2025, and Mexico as recently as two weeks ago.
It's tricky to nail this scam because it relies heavily on distracting the floor staff. The scam originated in Macau, and while they don't worry about foreign scammers anymore, they are concerned about domestic teams.
In previous versions, a baccarat player would use a camera up their sleeve to help colluding dealers turn the cards 90 degrees before inserting the cut card. The player would then scrape their fingernail across the corner of the cards to reveal a sequence of cards to the camera. Today, cell phones are used on the table for easy access.
The question remains, why are casinos letting big-spending players dictate the terms of their own procedures? Zender argued that it pits game protection against customer service. About 80% of cut-card scams are reportedly done with the help of dealers, and Zender suggests that casinos should be more proactive in ensuring that cuts are clean.
The No. 2 scam, counterfeit chips, has been prominent in Macau. In 2024, busts in Macau included five people arrested involving $210,000, five arrested involving $750,000, two arrested and six wanted involving $727,000, two arrested involving $20,000, and three arrested involving $75,000 in January. Macau uses RFID chips, but they don't have RFID transmitters at the tables, making the chips difficult to detect until they are cashed out.
In third place, we have hidden cameras on table games. This scam gained worldwide attention during the Summer Olympics in Paris, with two men from Eastern Europe being indicted for organized fraud following their arrest at Enghien-les-Bains casino. The pair used earpieces and button cameras to steal tens of thousands of euros from unsuspecting victims.
Poker games continue to be a target for cheaters using concealed cameras, with dealers becoming increasingly sloppy. Cameras can be hidden in everyday items like cigarette lighters, cigarette packs, and watches. To combat this, casinos are increasingly using AI technology to monitor games more closely.
Sources:
- [1] "World Game Protection Conference: Cut-Card Scam Tops List of Casino Scams for 2024", Buck Wargo, Our Website, 2024
- [2] "Phil Ivey and Cheung Yin Sun: Who are they? The Edge Sorting Scandal", Casino.org, 2020
- [3] "The Crown Casino Heist: How Hackers Brought Down the House", The Guardian, 2014
- [4] "Money Laundering in Casinos: Understanding the Risks and Preventative Measures", Casino.org, 2021
- [5] "Common Online Casino Scams: How to Protect Yourself", Casino.org, 2020
- In 2025, reports of the cut-card scam emerged in South Africa, adding to the concerns about domestic teams perpetrating these frauds within casinos.
- The World Game Protection Conference in Las Vegas revealed that the use of cell phones, rather than hidden cameras, is the new trend for executing the cut-card scam on baccarat tables.
- In the casino culture of the future, AI technology might become more prevalent in monitoring table games, especially poker, to combat the issue of dealers aiding cheaters using concealed cameras.
- The gambling trends of 2025 may also see prominent use of RFID chips in casino games, much like in Macau, but concerns remain about the difficulty in detecting counterfeit chips until they are cashed out, as the tables lack RFID transmitters.
- Las Vegas is not just known for its casino-and-gambling scene but also for its casino personalities, like Willy Allison and Bill Zender, who have contributed significantly to the discussions on casino-games security and the tackling of scams like the cut-card scam.
