Ronald Dale Harris is a computer programmer who worked for the Nevada Gaming Control Board in the early 1990s and was responsible for finding flaws

Software bug

A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...

 and gaffes in software that runs computerized casino games. Harris took advantage of his expertise, reputation and access to source code

Source code

In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...

 in order to illegally modify certain slot machine

Slot machine

A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...

s to pay out large sums of money when a specific sequence and number of coins were inserted. From 1993 to 1995, Harris and an accomplice stole thousands of dollars from Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 casinos, accomplishing one of the most successful and undetected scams in casino history.

Towards the end of his stint, Harris shifted his focus to the probability game Keno

Keno

Keno is a lottery or bingo gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 balls which determine the ball draw result. Each ball is imprinted...

, for which he developed a program that would determine which numbers the game's pseudorandom number generator

Pseudorandom number generator

A pseudorandom number generator , also known as a deterministic random bit generator , is an algorithm for generating a sequence of numbers that approximates the properties of random numbers...

 would select beforehand. When Harris's accomplice, Reid Errol McNeal, attempted to redeem a high value winning keno ticket at Bally's Atlantic City Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

, casino executives became suspicious of him and notified New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 gaming investigators. The investigation led authorities to Harris and after a trial was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released from prison after serving 2 years, and currently resides in Las Vegas.

Harris is listed in the Nevada Gaming Control Board's black book

Black Book (gaming)

"Black Book" is the nickname frequently used to refer to a list of persons who are unwelcome in casinos. The name comes from the fact that the persons listed in the "book" are essentially "blacklisted"...

and prohibited from entering casinos.

Harris’s story can be seen on the Bio Channel, History Channel and Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...

 program Breaking Vegas

Breaking Vegas

Breaking Vegas is a television series that premiered on The History Channel in the United States in the spring of 2004. The series covers the great lengths people have gone to make money, sometimes illegally, from casinos. It premiered in Pakistan on January 19, 2006 and was renamed Decoding...

, which features interviews and reenactments of some of Harris’s memorable moments in his casino-breaking scheme. The Travel Channel

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...

's Vegas Cheaters Exposed also briefly explains his story.

External links

• Breaking Vegas: The Series The History Channel March 1, 2005 Press Release
• "The World's Greatest Slot Cheat?"
• Nevada Exclusion/Ejection List record
• New Jersey Exclusion List record