Organised gangs are stealing millions of pounds from pubs, clubs and amusement arcades using specially designed tools and sophisticated electronic devices to extract money from gaming machines. The gang members, who call themselves 'fiddlers', can each earn several thousand pounds a day. With at least 20 gangs operating across Britain, the thefts are estimated to cost the industry £50 million a year, a figure likely to grow dramatically next year when the law restricting the maximum jackpot that machines can pay out is scrapped.
Andrew, leader of a gang of full-time fiddlers, lives in a seaside town in the south of England. He drives a Porsche, takes regular holidays to the Caribbean and spends most weekends in London, staying at the Hilton or the Langham and touring clubs, restaurants and bars. After a good day's fiddling, he comes away with about £3,000, all in pound coins.
His home bears testament to his dedication: there is a fruit machine in the bedroom, another in his bathroom and a third in the back garden. Each is missing panels, exposing the inner workings. Andrew uses them to hone his skills and design his tools.
'The basic device, the one which I make most of my money with is this,' he says, holding up a piece of hardware which resembles a twisted chisel. 'It fits through the coin tray on to the base of the tube that holds the coin float. By moving it back and forth, you release the solenoid that holds the coins in place.' Depending on the make of machine, a full coin tube holds between £72 and £109.
More sophisticated machines require more sophisticated techniques. For machines without solenoids, fiddlers remove the top of the 'collect/bank' button and use a cordless drill to bore a hole inside. A device which lights up when it makes contact with the wire that powers the coin release mechanism is then inserted and moved about until it connects. Flicking a switch triggers the machine to begin spitting coins.
State-of-the-art machines feature internal light beams which register each coin paid out and block illicit payments. But fiddlers have developed 'light wands' which are inserted into these machines and shine into the mechanism, fooling the machine into thinking no coins are being paid out while it is being emptied. Light wands change hands for up to £20,000.
The gangs - usually of three or four - spend days at a time touring arcades. 'The first one in is the camera man. He looks around to see the position of CCTV cameras and works out where the blind spots are and where to stand in order to block the view. Then someone goes in to check what the staff are up to.' The final member enters and all three begin playing machines, moving slowly towards the target area. As one extracts money, the others stand either side, seemingly watching but actually acting as lookouts and blocking the view.
During a demonstration at his local arcade, Andrew displays encyclopedic knowledge of each machine, how much it holds and what techniques can be used on it. With a swift movement, barely distinguishable from someone reaching into a coin tray to retrieve his winnings, he empties one machine of £45. 'It's very subtle. I've had arcade staff standing two or three machines away who haven't realised what I've been up to.' Owners usually only realise they have been hit long after the gang has gone.
Prosecutions are rare. The last major one was in 1994. A seven-strong gang from the West Midlands was convicted of stealing from gaming machines on cross-Channel ferries. They made up to £2,000 per trip and were estimated to have stolen in excess of £300,000 in little more than two years. They were caught when a cashier at a Wolverhampton bank told police that gang members were regularly changing thousands of pound coins into notes. A surveillance operation revealed the extent of their crimes. When the ferry companies increased security, the gang simply moved on to machines at motorway service stations, pubs and clubs.
The greatest threat to fiddlers comes not from the police or arcade owners but from rival gangs. Pitched battles have been fought. At least three murders in the past decade have been blamed on gang warfare. It is partly because of the rising violence that Andrew is turning from poacher to gamekeeper. He is setting up a company to help arcades protect their machines. To keep his identity secret, he will be contactable only via email. Bacta, the industry's governing body, is also trying to clamp down on fraud with a video showing a range of fiddling methods and how to spot them. Andrew believes it will have only a short-term effect as techniques used by the gangs are constantly evolving.
Lenny, who runs Neptunes arcade in Great Yarmouth, agrees. 'It's a plague. You can't stop it. There isn't an arcade in the country which hasn't been affected. They're always one step ahead of whatever we do to stop them. There are millions at stake, they're not going to just give up.'
Report by Tony Thompson from
The Observer.
