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Aristocrat says its pokies are safe.Source:News Limited

AUSTRALIAN gaming giant Aristocrat, the world’s largest manufacturer of poker machines, has confirmed it was the victim of an “extortion attempt” by a Russian hacker who claims to be able to turn pokies into virtual ATMs.

According to a story in tech magazine Wired, the St. Petersburg-based “mathematician and programmer” named Alex has made millions of dollars through his talent for reverse engineering the pseudorandom number generators (PRNGs) that govern how pokie machines behave.

Alex’s “legion of field agents” — four of whom were convicted of fraud in the US a few years ago — roam casinos around the world, using their phones to record video of vulnerable machines.

The video is then analysed by Alex and his team back in Russia to determine when the machine’s odds will favour a payout. They then send “timing data” via a custom app on the agent’s phone, which vibrates a split second before they should press the “spin” button. According to Wired, the a four-person team using this strategy can earn more than $US250,000 in a week.

“Gaming manufacturers claim they provide ‘entertainment’, but we all know the nature of this ‘entertainment’ a little too well,” he told the magazine via email. “All they and I are really doing is moving money.

“Their job is to help casinos take money from the people; my job is to help myself and the people take money from the casinos. Just a little counterweight to the global gambling system, where the house always wins.”

The story details how Alex, seeking one last payday before he shut down his business, contacted Aristocrat in November last year seeking a payout in exchange for directing his agents to “cancel their work on Aristocrat slots to stop compromising your trademark”. He also offered to “help your developers eliminate all design flaws”.

He warned that “the matter could become worse if technical details would be available for your competitors or will be shared via internet or media”. According to the article, he then attached a breakdown of the supposedly secret PRNG that powers games like 50 Lions and Heart of Gold.

Over the course of several weeks, Alex pressed the company for an eight-figure sum, but Aristocrat wouldn’t budge. He is now reportedly targeting London-based gaming company IGT with similar demands.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Aristocrat said the company “referred this extortion attempt to the relevant authorities, and managed it in full compliance with all relevant protocols”.

“Aristocrat is a high integrity company that has zero tolerance for unethical behaviour. Accordingly, it did not pay nor has it ever paid extortion moneys,” she said.

The spokeswoman said Aristocrat had “no evidence of any actual or potential cheat of any game title other than the handful of MkVI vintage titles previously reported”.

“The allegations and threats made with respect to Aristocrat’s broader portfolio are consistent with the interests of the extortionist in this case, but are not correct,” she said.

“Aristocrat stands firmly behind the integrity of its products, which comply fully with all regulatory and technical standards at the time of their placement in market. Deterring criminal cheats is an ongoing challenge for all manufacturers, operators and regulators in the gaming industry.”

Former Convicted Hacker on How to Protect Your Data

Hard Rock Casino Slot Machines Photo: (By Flickr user Ted Murphy CC BY 2.0)

Despite gamblers' hopes, playing on the pokies or the slots is definitely not a passport to wealth and riches.

There's only one person getting rich and it's generally whoever owns and operates the machines, not the person stuffing it with money.

Wired Magazine Slot Machine Russian Black

But what if you could hack the system and drastically increase the odds in your favour?

That's what some Russian gangs have been doing since 2009, when the then prime minister Vladimir Putin outlawed almost all gambling, releasing a glut of redundant pokie machines onto the market that people could study, take apart, and reverse engineer.

Wired Magazine Slot Machine Russian Mafia

Brendan Koerner has written about the Russian slots scam for Wired magazine.