EXCLUSIVE

by Dan Rutstein

AN ILLEGAL scam is netting gamblers in York thousands of pounds a year from pub fruit machines, the Evening Press can exclusively reveal today.

Some cheats are earning up to £25,000 a year from the machines.

They are using a 'refill key' to ensure they scoop regular jackpots, denying honest players their share of the winnings.

The scam works because the key can check how much is in the machine's win slots, without altering the payouts.

It ensures that the cheats only gamble at an optimum time to win the big prizes.

One York gambler told the Evening Press of his exploits, which include winning as much as £300 in one day.

"What is amusing about people's attitudes towards fruit machines, is that they still believe that there is only one winner. This is definitely not the case.

"You need knowledge, discipline, and the simple will to spend your time doing something that other people find very boring.

"It seems to me rather interesting that an industry that makes millions of pounds a year through drunken addictions can take the moral high ground on this issue."

Using the key, the 35-year-old gambler, who asked to remain anonymous, checks the balance in the win slot of a number of different machines before selecting the one to play.

"The win slot can hold a maximum of £125, and the best time to play it is when it is on £118 or above," he said.

"Although this doesn't guarantee a win, it does mean the machine is due a large payout soon and by avoiding the temptation of taking the smaller prizes you can cash in on a repeat jackpot."

Phil Silver, senior compliance officer for BACTA, the trade association for amusement machine operators, told the Evening Press of his concerns about the scam.

"This is definitely illegal. It is affecting the chances of bona fide users winning on the machines, and that is the kind of cheating we dislike."

Ashley Fitzhugh, a licensing officer at York police, said that having machines within sight of a bar is one issue which licensing magistrates are keen on to prevent criminal activity of any type.

The keys are available on the Internet for as little as £20 and although the sites offering them claim they are legal, Superintendent John Lacy, of North Yorkshire Police, is adamant they are not.

"I have grave concerns about the use of these keys," he told the Evening Press.

"They are denying genuine users of the machines a chance to win and we would urge anyone who has any information to come forward."