Casinos can be very strange places at time. For the most part, they are where people go to relax, have a few drinks, and play for a bit, hoping to walk out with more money than they came in with, but fully expecting to lose. But every now and then, there is a player with a different idea in mind.
Over the years, we’ve heard some crazy, out of this world stories about gamblers walking into the casinos and setting their sight on glory. These men and women didn’t come through those doors that are equipped with metal detectors and security guards just to have a bit of fun. They wanted the lot, and those who made it will remain forever inked on the real and virtual pages of gambling history textbooks.
These are their stories.
The Unbelievable Streak of Archie Karas
Archie Karas is a name known throughout gambling circles. The man who wasn’t afraid to put it all on the line and go against the odds has had some great nights and some really bad nights in the casinos across the States. But his lucky streak in the 1990s is the stuff gamblers’ dreams are made of.
Originally hailing from Greece, Karas came to the USA while working on a cruise ship. He made his home in Los Angeles, where he discovered poker and took a real liking to the game. Archie’s natural talent quickly came through as he became one of the best poker players in the area.
However, poker alone was never enough for Karas, and he would often take what he had won at poker tables to other
casino games, gunning for the glory. In 1992, this led to him losing around $2,000,000. According to those in the know, the Greek was left almost broke.
Taking Down Vegas
For someone of Archie’s background, the only way out was to take whatever he had left to the casinos once again and try to catch the elusive lucky streak. So, that same year, he headed to Las Vegas, hoping to make his last $50 work for him.
What happened over the next couple of years borderlines impossible, and it was probably beyond what even Karas himself would dare dream of. Between 1992 and 1994, playing in the casinos across Sin City, the Greek went on an incredible lucky streak, turning his original $50 into $40,000,000.
According to those who were around him at the time, everything Karas touched during “The Run” turned to gold, as he simply couldn’t lose. Craps, poker, roulette – you name it. The Greek simply kept on winning, betting huge amounts on a single hand or spin of the wheel.
Unfortunately, the resolve and the careless attitude that made this unbelievable run possible were also Archie’s undoing in the end. Once Lady Luck turned her back on him, Karas didn’t have the ability to stop and walk away. He went on to lose everything he made during the streak in the years following the streak.
Did he live to regret it? Probably. But for someone like Karas, it was never about the money; it was always about playing the game and pushing the limits, and having money sitting in his bank account probably wouldn’t cut it for him.
Sorting the Edge with Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey is known to the gambling world primarily for his successes in poker. Widely regarded as one of the best all-around poker players, Ivey is also known to occasionally shoot the dice or play a few hands of baccarat for fun. But unlike so many other high rollers, Ivey is a sharp gambler who knows better than to try and bang his head against the wall and rely on luck to beat the casino.
In 2012, Ivey took it to baccarat tables at Atlantic City’s Borgata and London’s Crockfords Casino accompanied by a mysterious female partner. It was nothing out of the ordinary, as Phil was a regular sight at the tables, and casinos were happy to take his action, convinced there was nothing even one of the greatest gambling minds could do to overcome the inherent house edge.
As it turns out, they were wrong.
Ivey went on to win millions in both casinos. Crockfords figured out there was something amiss and refused to pay up, withholding the amount of around $13,000,000 in winnings. Borgata wasn’t as quick to catch up, and Ivey ended up walking away with $9.6 million.
In the aftermath, Phil Ivey ended up suing Crockfords for his winnings, and it came to light he was using the technique known as “edge sorting.” Using the defect on the cards’ backs, Ivey’s companion was able to recognize favorable cards, turning the tables on the casino. Armed with this knowledge, Ivey was able to completely erase the house edge.
The high roller didn’t try to hide the fact that he was using the technique during his visits to both casinos, as he didn’t really see it as cheating. He was simply taking advantage of casinos’ negligence without doing anything to interfere with the game.
Sadly, the UK court didn’t agree. Ivey lost his lawsuits as the courts determined Crockfords wasn’t obligated to pay up. Even worse, when Borgata caught wind of what was happening across the pond, they decided to sue Phil for his winnings, and this case is still ongoing.
How Blackjack Saved FedEx
Gambling is rarely something you should look at to save you from impending financial doom. In fact, more often than not, it will cause more problems than it will solve. But if you ask Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, he might disagree.
Back in 1970, Smith came up with an idea for a company that would offer a full-scale delivery solution, from picking up the cargo to getting it where it needs to go. At that time, the process was handled by several companies, and Smith was convinced a single business entity in charge of the whole chain was the solution to the problem.
As it turned out, he was right, but not before it all came close to a crushing end almost before it started.
In 1973, FedEx delivered its first load of 186 packages. Right off the bat, they ran into financial problems. They ran up their fuel bill to $24,000 and had only $5,000 in the company’s bank account. Smith first tried to do things the old-fashioned way, asking for a loan, but he was turned down everywhere he tried.
So, he cashed out the last $5,000 and took it to the blackjack tables in Las Vegas. Lady Luck took pity on his stubborn and seemingly hopeless efforts to save the dying company, and Smith ran the initial $5,000 up to $27,000. This was enough to cover the bill and keep the company going for at least a bit longer.
It was a really bumpy start, but from that point on, he never looked back. The FedEx owner was able to secure more loans shortly after and continued to create a company that’s worth billions today. If there weren’t for blackjack and Smith’s do-or-die attitude, however, the whole process of shipping packages could have been much different today.
The $200 Million Binge of Terry Watanabe
Gambling history is full of crazy stories, but not all of them ended up in a glorious fashion for the player. One such case is that of Terry Watanabe, a multi-millionaire who was caught in the casino web of glitz and glamour and didn’t escape until it was too late.
A son of Harry Watanabe, Terry sold his stake in his father’s very successful business in 2000, making a huge amount of money in the process. For a while, he enjoyed his wealth like any regular person would, but his problems started in 2007 when he visited Las Vegas for the first time.
Terry was stunned by the glamour of Sin City and the royal treatment he was given by the casinos, especially Harrah’s. Instead of coming back home, Watanabe decided to stick around and enjoy the perks in the form of free rooms, tickets, fancy gifts, and more. He was truly treated like a royalty by Harrah’s, but this is hardly a surprise when considering the fact that 6% of the total venue’s gambling revenue came straight from Watanabe.
By the time Terry Watanabe came to his senses, he had already lost $200 million gambling. When he finally came clean about his problem to his sister, she took him back home to Ohio. Folks at Harrah’s weren’t too happy about this, especially because a lot of Watanabe’s losses were issued in a form of casino credits, and the millionaire never produced the cash to cover them.
Both parties filed lawsuits, the casino asking for their money and Watanabe suing Harrah’s for purposefully and maliciously trying to get him to lose as much money as possible. It all ended in an out-of-court settlement, and Watanabe has, allegedly, stopped gambling for good.
Don’t Push My Buttons
Winning a big six-figure jackpot on a slot machine is pretty much one of the best things that can happen to you in a casino. But if you’re not careful, it can also turn into your worst nightmare, as one Jan Flato discovered to his dismay.
Flato was playing a high-stakes slot machine at Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Florida at $50 a spin in the company of one Marina Medvedeva Navarro. Not thinking too much about it, he had Navarro press the spin button on the machine for good luck and, lo and behold, the reels stopped to produce a $100,000 jackpot!
It was a huge hit, but Flato’s excitement was short lived as the casino decided the jackpot actually belonged to Navarro because she was the one who pressed the button on the lucky spin. The decision was backed up by the laws and statutes in place, so there wasn’t much he could do about it.
According to the media, Navarro was all too happy to take all the credit and take the jackpot in full, leaving Flato with nothing but a very bitter taste in his mouth. She even later said Flato was playing with her money all along, and that was the end of that story, at least as far as the casino and the courts are concerned.
The moral of the story? Be very careful who you let push your buttons!
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