It seems that ever since the dawn of time, gambling has been one of the most entertaining activities enjoyed. Partially due to the fact that gambling has such a long history, there are various myths and beliefs associated with it.
Believing in luck or lucky rituals is one of the things almost every gambler is guilty of. And, by checking out the stories below, it seems that having luck following some people around is sometimes more than just a myth.
That being said, let’s explore some of the craziest gambling stories in history and see how they’ve changed the lives of everyone involved.
Patricia DeMauro
To anyone who hasn’t heard about Patricia, she may seem like just a dear elderly lady at first glance. However, the truth is that she became a real craps queen! On a warm spring evening, back in 2009, Patricia decided to check out the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City. Once she got there, the Craps tables were simply calling to her, so she decided to try and see just how lucky she truly is. The beginning of the story may not sound super exciting, but what happened next is simply mind-blowing. After a long game of Craps – that lasted for almost 4 and a half hours – Patricia rolled the dice 154 times. Now, what’s even more amazing is the fact that in those 154 rolls, she never hit 7 once! According to statistics, the average number of dice rolls before hitting 7 is around 8.5 which makes Patricia’s story even more unbelievable. To this day, nobody knows just how much money this win brought to this dear old lady and, for what it’s worth, we don’t even need to.
Kerry Packer
Almost everyone who ever came in contact with any gambling stories has probably heard some about Kerry Packer. This man was a creature of true opposites, supposedly spending more than $28 million in 1999 in a London casino in just three weeks. Another story that follows him is of that time when he won $33 million in Las Vegas! Packer was a man of deep pockets and a very hot temper, which was not always a bad thing. One time he wanted to generously tip the croupier that was dealing cards at the table he was playing at. But since he knew that all croupiers share their tips at the end of the night, he first went to the casino manager and demanded that he fires the croupier in question. Once the manager obliged, Packer gave $80 thousand to the croupier and demanded that the manager hires her back immediately, which he did. While casinos all around the world bot feared and looked forward to having Packer as their guest, some of the stories that follow this man attest to just why he became a true gambling legend.
Jon Heywood
The majority of people simply love to hear feel-good stories, and this becomes even more true when you hear that good things happened to good people. Such is the story of Lance Corporal Jon Heywood, a veteran that served in Afghanistan. Back in 2015, after seeing a TV add about a progressive jackpot game, Heywood decided to try his luck at it. The initial bet he made was only £30. After a couple of minutes placing modest bets, that were usually no more than £0.25, he managed to hit the £13,213,838.68 jackpot. This is arguably one of the best stories regarding online gambling. What’s more, Heywood initially didn’t even share his success story with anyone but even made his way to work the next day. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would be able to keep their cool so well after hitting such a huge jackpot.
Gonzalo Garcia Pelayo
You probably already know that there are numerous forbidden tactics people used over the course of history to try and beat various casino games. The most famous example is counting cards, which is heavily forbidden in all casinos around the world. But until they met Pelayo, casinos didn’t really pay much attention to roulette players and their behavior, as this game is usually not easy to manipulate. However, Pelayo noticed that roulette tables, just like all the other casino machines, have some imperfections that can cause certain numbers to be drawn more frequently than others. Thanks to meticulous observation and calculation, Pelayo managed to win well over $700,000 between the end of 1991 and the middle of 1992. After managing to score another win of roughly €500,000, Pelayo and his two children were banned from the Gran Madrid Casino. But that didn’t stop them from touring other casinos around the world, scoring one win after the other.
As unbelievable as some of these stories are, all of them are entirely true! It’s simply amazing seeing how some people are simply lucky while others use their knowledge and skill to excel at some of their favorite casino games. And while it may seem like you will have greater chances of landing a win in land-based casinos, some of these stories prove that it’s simply not always the case.