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Cheat Bilked Casinos for Years with Ingenious Gadgets

``Standing in front of the machine is 53-year-old Tommy Glenn Carmichael, who boasts a unique and lucrative talent:

``…Carmichael is no two-bit slot cheat. Authorities have anointed him one of the best, a master inventor who conspired with an elite group of thieves to steal millions from casinos.

``For almost two decades, Carmichael designed tools — the kick stand, the monkey paw, the light wand — that enabled him to bilk slot machines across the United States and Caribbean.

``…He first bilked a 5-cent machine at a casino near the Las Vegas Strip, strolling out proudly with pockets bulging with $35 in nickels.

``…At 35, Carmichael’s rap sheet now included his first cheating blemish to go along with two small-time drug convictions and some juvenile mischief. He was sentenced to five years.

``…In 1990, Carmichael returned to Las Vegas and bought IGT’s Fortune One video poker machine.

``…Carmichael’s approach was simple, fellow cheat Mike Balsamo said: ‘Figure out how a machine counts money and then work your way into the machine.’

``…Helping him evade authorities were Carmichael’s average appearance and his flawless technique.

``…On the night of Oct. 4, 1996, Carmichael sat in front of a slot machine inside the Circus Circus hotel-casino on the Strip.

``… Police charged him with possession of a cheating device and manufacturing a cheating device.

``…The charges later were dropped, but in 1998, Carmichael was arrested in Laughlin on a similar charge — and the following year his luck ran out in Atlantic City, where he was stopped while using an improved light wand.

``On Sept 7, 2001, Carmichael was sentenced to time served — 326 days — and given three years’ probation. He lost his two homes.

``…And the judge ordered him to stay out of casinos…”

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