Federal prosecutors have dropped all charges against two players who exploited a programming glitch in IGT video poker machines at the Meadows casino near Pittsburgh and in Las Vegas.
Andre Nestor and John Kane had been charged with wire fraud and computer fraud after exploiting a flaw in the double-up feature on IGT multi-game video poker machines to collect payouts totaling near $500,000.
While the way the players accomplished this was never officially revealed, the Player’s Advantage website quoted an anonymous investigator in describing how each player asked casino employees to activate the “double up” feature, which allows a 50/50 bet to double the payout after any win.
After a win on one video poker game, the players would switch to another game on the same machine and play that until a win occurred. After placing more money in the machine, they would raise the level of their bet and return to the original game. The glitch would cause the computer to apply the larger bet to the original win.
IGT has since fixed the programming glitch, and made the casinos whole for the losses.
Meadows officials told the website they were disappointed that charges were dropped. Nestor, the Pittsburgh-area native who allegedly took the casino for nearly $480,000, has been banned by state regulators from playing in any Pennsylvania casino.
