Cheating Vegas
{{Short description|American documentary television series}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
Cheating Vegas is a documentary television series previously airing on Destination America. The series is about the illegal industry of cheating in casinos,{{Cite web |title=Cheating Vegas |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/cheating-vegas/1030424008/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} featuring interviews with several infamous cheaters and informative information, topped off with real security camera footage of cheaters in the act. The show also includes talks from Nevada Gaming Control Board members about the different cheaters involved.{{Cite web |title=New TV show profiles casino security, cheating gamblers in Las Vegas |url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/2012/aug/14/new-tv-show-profiles-casino-security-cheating-gamb/}} The show debuted in 2012,{{cite news | url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/08/13/step-into-the-lives-of-high-tech-card-sharks-and-slot-swindlers-in-destination-americas-new-series-cheating-vegas-404311/20120813da01/ | title=Step Into the Lives of High Tech Card Sharks and Slot Swindlers in Destination America's New Series "Cheating Vegas" | work=The Futon Critic | date=August 13, 2014 | accessdate=September 10, 2014}} and is currently not airing any new episodes.
Plot
The show is a compilation of security camera footage, phone calls to prisoners known to cheat in Vegas, and talks with Nevada Gaming members. As casino employees have noticed, if there is money involved, there are unscrupulous people out there willing to grab it. Real security camera footage probably unseen anywhere else allows viewers to have a look at the daily cheaters' main job. Many forms of cheating are included, such as point shaving, rigging slot machines, and manipulating the game of craps.{{Cite web|last=Evans|first=Pat|title=9 scandals that rocked the gambling industry|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/scandals-casinos-gambling-las-vegas-2019-6|access-date=2021-10-11|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}
Not addressed is the matter of casinos cheating patrons, although the Nevada Gaming Control Board certainly has such cases in its files.
Episodes
=''Cheating Vegas''=
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| Episode number | Title | Run time | Air Date
{{Episode list |Title=Insiders |Aux1=44 minutes |EpisodeNumber=1 |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2012|8|19}} |ShortSummary=Casino employees and other "insiders" commit gaming crimes. }} {{Episode list |Title=Game Changers |Aux1=44 minutes |EpisodeNumber=2 |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2012|8|26}} |ShortSummary=Casino security must stay one step ahead of the "game changers," cheats who are constantly creating new scams. }} {{Episode list |Title=Hall of Fame |Aux1=44 minutes |EpisodeNumber=3 |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2012|9|3}} |ShortSummary=The most brazen cheaters in Vegas including Dennis Nikrasch, an infamous slot cheater who reigned for 22 years. }} |
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Reception
"It's a riveting look at the world of high-stakes deception and the cat-and-mouse game between the casinos and those who would fleece them. It's also a series that provides cautionary tale after cautionary tale for anyone out there who might be thinking of taking those fantasies of beating Vegas at its own game out for a spin in the real world." wrote Channel Guide.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Channel Guide |date=2012-08-16 |title="Cheating Vegas" debuting on Destination America |url=https://www.channelguidemag.com/tv-news/2012/08/16/cheating-vegas-debuting-destination-america/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=Channel Guide Magazine |language=en-US}}