Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus. Und.) a confidence trickster.

1943		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 51: It all begun in the first place with Him gettin’ pretty jack of the way all these booze artists and eeler-spielers and loose women, as they’re called, was lairin’ it up.
1985		P. Carey Illywhacker 245: Eelerspee. It's like pig Latin. Spieler is ieler-spe and then iely-whacker. Illywhacker. See? [...] A trickster. A quandong. A ripperty man. A con-man.
2000–02		Macquarie Dict. 🌐 eelerspee noun Obsolete a confidence trickster; a con artist. [the word spieler, as rendered in pig-Latin].