Casinos are essentially massive, highly fortified vaults containing millions of dollars in untraceable cash, making them the ultimate, irresistible target for ambitious criminals.

Some thieves used brute force, others used brilliant hacking skills, but all of them attempted to defeat the absolute most heavily guarded fortresses in the world.

The Stardust Heist: The Inside Job

Perhaps the most legendary, baffling, and purely simple casino heist in Las Vegas history occurred in 1992 at the famous Stardust casino.

Incredibly, despite being featured on "America's Most Wanted" and hunted by the FBI for decades, Bill Brennan has never been caught or seen again to this day.

• Because he was a trusted employee, he completely bypassed all standard security protocols
• The theft forced Las Vegas casinos to massively overhaul their internal employee bag-check procedures
• Brennan remains a complete ghost; he has never been found, arrested, or even spotted since 1992

The Crown Casino VIP Hack

While Brennan used a backpack, the most sophisticated modern heist utilized high-tech hacking to completely bypass the physical security of the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

An accomplice sitting directly at the table was secretly wearing a tiny earpiece, receiving real-time, perfect information about the cards from the remote hackers.

The Audacious Armed Robbery

In less than three minutes, he scooped up $1.5 million worth of massive $25,000 denomination "cranberry" chips into a duffel bag and fled on a parked motorcycle.

The heist was initially deemed a massive success, but the thief fundamentally misunderstood how modern casino chips actually operate.

While the romanticized era of the massive, cinematic casino heist is largely over, the legends of the ones who beat the house will endure forever.