Part III: Slot Machine Cheating · Electronic & Digital Cheating Methods

SCAM #6: Ron Harris EPROM Backdoor Injection

How it works

Ron Harris exploited his position as a Nevada Gaming Control Board technician to manipulate the very equipment used to audit slot machines. He rigged the NGCB’s field laptop computers — instead of legitimately reading EPROM chips and comparing them to manufacturer master software, the laptops were reprogrammed to automatically overwrite new cheating code onto the chips during routine inspections. Harris embedded hidden code that altered machine firmware during these authorized testing sessions. The modified machines would pay out jackpots when specific coin insertion sequences were performed (e.g., three coins, then two, then two, one, three, and five). This was particularly insidious because the cheating was perpetrated by the regulators themselves, leaving no suspicious activity in the logs — the modifications appeared as legitimate regulatory inspections.

Where it appears

Primarily Universal Distributing slot machines and IGT Player’s Edge Plus video poker machines in Northern Nevada casinos (Fitzgerald’s Reno, Crystal Bay Club Lake Tahoe)

On the record

Harris stole approximately $32,000-42,000 in illicit jackpots between 1993 and 1994 from Nevada casinos, including three separate $9,000 jackpots at Fitzgerald’s Reno and a $5,000 payout at Crystal Bay Club. The scheme was uncovered when his accomplice Reid McNeal drew suspicion at Bally’s Atlantic City during the keno scheme. Harris’s case led to a complete overhaul of NGCB inspection procedures and the implementation of multi-layer chip authentication.

Published as a detection reference for surveillance, compliance and gaming-operations professionals. Thresholds and tuning are set by the property. Nothing here is instruction — the method is described so it can be recognised.