Six people have been indicted for stealing almost $10,000 while playing video poker at Kewardin Casino Hotel & Resort in Michigan, USA. According to local newspapers, Joseph Michael Koster used a "light wand" device to increase payouts from the video poker machines while his companions (Michael Leo Patterson, Cheryl Rose Steinsiek, Vannessa Dale Robb, Bruce Kirby Robb and Jeffrey Paul Neighbors) watched out for casino security and patrons. The scam went on for almost two years from July 2009 to June 2011.
"By using this device, defendant Koster tricked the video poker machine into paying out winnings well in excess of those to which Koster was entitled," Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner wrote in an indictment.