Part III: Slot Machine Cheating · Physical Cheating Methods

SCAM #8: The Light Wand (Mini Light / LED Wand)

How it works

Tommy Glenn Carmichael’s most devastating invention. The light wand was a remarkably simple device – costing approximately $2.50 to build – consisting of a camera battery, a miniature light bulb, and a plastic deflector. The cheat would insert the device up the coin payout chute and position it near the optic sensor that counted outgoing coins. When activated, the intense light blinded the optical counter, making it think it was seeing its own opposite light. This prevented the sensor from counting coins as they passed, causing the hopper to continue dispensing coins indefinitely. The plastic deflector allowed coins to pass and fall into the tray without being counted. The device had to be turned on and off periodically so the machine would not “time out” thinking the hopper was empty.

Where it appears

Coin-dispensing slot machines with optical hopper counters, primarily video poker and slot machines from the early 1990s.

On the record

Tommy Glenn Carmichael invented the light wand in 1992 after visiting an IGT showroom where an engineer opened a machine and showed him the internal mechanics. The device sold on the street for $15,000 to $30,000. Carmichael’s operation was so successful that he could make $1,000 an hour. He was arrested at Circus Circus in 1996 with a second-generation light wand, but charges were dropped. He was finally arrested in Atlantic City in 1999 and sentenced in 2001 to 326 days in prison. He died in 2019.

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.