Anatomy of a skim
Dennis Gomes, a former top investigator for the Nevada Gaming Commission, gave jurors in the Family Secrets case a firsthand look at how the skim was done at a Las Vegas casino, the Stardust.
Gomes figured a few of his employees had been corrupted, so he conducted a raid of the Stardust with no notice in May 1976, telling only one of his employees, who came along with him.
Through a little bluff and some clever accounting work, Gomes figured out that the casino was skimming large amounts of money through the slot machines.
The casino was underweighing the coins that came through its counting room.
The casino didn't count the change, which would be too cumbersome, but rather weighed the coins.
Gomes discovered there was a secret switch on the scale. When flipped one way, the amount of coins would be light.
Through accounting shennanigans, the change could be moved out the door in the form of cash, with regulators none the wiser.
Gomes had reason to believe that something fishy was up with the casino slots.
After all, the Stardust management had put George Jay Vandermark in charge of its slot operations.
Vandermark's main qualification was that he was a top thief at stealing money from slot machines.
