Roulette is one of the most popular gambling games of today and history. According to some sources, it was created by well-known mathematician Blais Pascal, who tried to invent the Perpetuum Mobile device. If it is true, it is not yet known, but it is a nice story. Pascal himself is also the father of the theory of probability, which he defined when he tried to help a gambler beat a game similar to today's dice.

Either way, the first mention of roulette comes from the 17th century. At the same time, the first roulette betting system - Martingale - was created. It is Martingale that could be considered as a forerunner of attempts to defeat roulette. And it was definitely not the last one.

The Man who Broke the Bank in Monte Carlo

Joseph Jagger was a British textile businessman. Until 1871, there was certainly nothing special about him. But then he thought that some roulette wheels might be slightly deflected off the axis and leaning sideways. Let us not forget that at that time, production was not nearly as perfect as it is today.

Jagger decided to test his theory and went to the famous Monte Carlo, where he studied the local roulette table for over a month. After analyzing thousands of games, he managed to find that the roulette was actually tilted and the ball fell to the selected places more often than the probability indicated. According to available information, Jagger earned more than two million francs, which would be equivalent to approximately £ 7.5 million in terms of the current exchange rate.

He used the money to buy real estate for himself and family members, and in 1892 he died of diabetes. He is also often referred to as the "Man who broke the bank in Monte Carlo".

Pierre Dugal and Biased Roulette

In the 18th century, Pierre Dugal also exploited mistakes in the construction of roulette. A better expression would be 'caused'. Dugal was a gifted carpenter who used to hide in a casino in the toilet and wait. Once all the employees had left, he picked up the tools and adjusted the roulette so that the ball often fell into the selected sector. Then, he and his wife revisited the casino and won big times.

But not everything ends beautifully. Dugal's wife found out about his affairs and reported her husband to the police. He went to prison for a while, and after his release, he found a new wife.

Dugal repeated the same scam on roulette three more times. Every time with another wife, every time unfaithful and always went to jail. His last stay in the detention centre was also Dugal's last.

Cheating in Roulette with Mobile

Enough of frauds with biased roulette. Now let's look at the more current case, specifically to 2004. Two men and woman entered the London Casino Rits and headed straight for roulette. That same evening, the three left with £ 100,000. They returned the next day and won an incredible £ 2.1 million. Since such winnings are not quite common on roulette, the casino called the police, which later detained the group.

Investigators said the gang managed to put into practice the theory known as "sector targeting". Players were able to use a laser to capture the ball's point of entry into the roulette wheel. Then they use the laser to measure its speed, and finally, using specialized software on mobile phones, to estimate its declining orbit. Just for the sake of interest, similar software is also used in the analysis of objects descending in the atmosphere.

But the story did not end here. Because of the imprecise wording of the law, this cheaters had never been accused of fraud. Their device did not affect the roulette or its parts. And the British 18th-century law does not directly prohibit the use of lasers and predictive software. In conclusion, the case is 15 years old, and something like this would not work today, just because casinos use cell jammers.

The Big Cigarette Scam

We will stay with hi-tech equipment for a while. In 1973, Monique Laurent became the face of this roulette fraud. Together with their husband and brother, they managed to cheat the French Casino Deauville by over $ 1 million. In just a week.

At that time, Laurent's brother worked as a roulette dealer in the casino, and from the beginning of his career, he wondered how to beat the roulette. Eventually, he and his beautiful sister came up with an almost perfect plan. They implanted a radio receiver in a ball and concealed a transmitter in a cigarette box. Once the device was activated, the modified ball ended up in a sector of six digits. While her husband was betting, Monique controlled the device in the cigarette box.

The whole action was revealed by accident. Attractive Monique caught the eye of the casino owner, and he started to make her suggestions. For obvious reasons, Monique stubbornly refused these proposals. The owner noticed Monique itself virtually does not play, but on the contrary, often suspiciously moves at very lossy roulette.

The casino eventually had to hire detectives to disclose the detail of this particular roulette cheat. Monique herself did not go to jail for fraud.

How Magnets Beat Roulette

This case happened in 2003 in Austria. According to all information, the roulette cheaters consisted of four Germans and one Austrian. The gang won tens of thousands of euros in a casino in Vienna, thanks to the fact that it managed to get a specially modified ball with a magnet on the roulette table.

According to the police, this group of five people created an electromagnetic field using a hidden device, probably in a watch. The ball then fell into one sector. Unknown scammers didn't win every game, but they managed to take around € 200,000 from the casino.

It is interesting how the casino found out about their roulette fraud. As the dealer picked up the ball, it stuck to his metal button on his jacket. After the incident, the group quickly left the casino and no longer showed up. Only a mystery of how I managed to change the ball was left behind.

Richard Marcus and his Quick Hands

Richard Marcus is probably the most famous casino cheater of all time. He has operated with his group in the US for over 20 years and made millions of dollars.

Marcus seemed to have had a sense of gambling since his early years. He moved to the city of sins from New York in 1976 with $ 30,000 winning on races. However, he lost all of his money shortly after. Marcus then lived as a homeless for a while and found a job a dealer in a casino.

As he was dealing cards, a certain Joe Classon approached him and offered him to cheat the casino together. Using a pre-mixed deck, they won more than $ 20,000. It was also Classon who introduced him to late chip placement.

The trick was that Markus always placed a few low-value chips and placed a high-value chip at the very bottom of the stack. If the bet won, he left a high chip on the table. If, on the other hand, in the lost situation, Marcus discreetly pulled the chip from the bottom of the stack. In this way, he operated with his group for more than 20 years until 1999, when he decided to retire and write down his memories.