No guts, no glory. We always hear this, but we do not act on it. The same rule applies with gambling—if you do not take any risk, you will not get any reward. Today, we will share with you some real-life examples of remarkable cases where risk was worth taking. These are stories of real people who had the grit to risk some money and won big.
Elmer Sherwin
Elmer won big in slot machines not once, but twice. Elmer is a WWII veteran who frequented slot machines in Las Vegas. At the age of 76, he won $4.6 million in the Megabucks jackpot game. He was so lucky—the Mirage casino had just opened 10 hours when he won this jackpot prize.
He travelled the world to enjoy his winnings. He did not stop gambling. He played maybe twice a week hoping to win again. After 16 years, he won $21 million on the same game. His luck showed that he is a charitable person, as he gave most of his winnings to charity, most especially to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Gloria McKenzie
Gloria is the winner of the biggest Powerball lottery prize in the United States. She won $590 million in 2013. Gloria is from Florida, and she was 84 years old when she won the jackpot. This jackpot is not easy to beat. The Powerball gives you an odd of 1 in 175 million. Gloria is not what we can consider a gambler. She bought her ticket in a local supermarket.
Gonazol Garcia-Pelayo
This person from Spain is a passionate mathematician. In the 1990s, he was able to figure out that not all roulette games are truly random. He realized that in some games, the ball “favoured” some numbers more than the others.
He knew that some wheels are biased. What he did was to observe the roulette wheels in many casinos for hours. He recorded the results of the spins and analyzed where the ball was most likely to land. He even asked his children to help out.
He used this knowledge of “wheel bias” to turn luck in his favour. After winning a sum, he moved to other casinos. He made so much money that a Spanish casino even sued him, but the casino lost. It is because of this man that casinos today have strict processes to prevent “biased wheels”.
Charlie Wells
Charlie is a celebrity gambler—he used £4,000 pounds to play roulette for 11 straight hours. With this money, he won more than a million francs in France in Monte Carlo. Charlie literally broke the bank. When he won, the casino had to make more chips because he won them all already.
In the same year, he returned to the same casino after three days from the last time he won. This time, he won another million francs. Rumour has it that he wagered in the number five and won five times in a row. Also, it is widely believed that he used the Martingale system, where he doubled his bet every time he lost.
Kerry Packer
Kerry is not your usual player—he was already a billionaire before he played and won big. In short, Kerry is a high-roller. In 1996, he won somewhere between $20 and $40 million in two games—blackjack and baccarat.
There is a rumour circulating that he tipped his doorman a cool $1 million. A high-roller gambler, Kerry did not stop. Two years later, he lost $28 million in a casino in London. A lesson you need to learn here is that you need to quit if you are ahead.
Gambling Tips to Win
You cannot win if you do not take a risk, but how much risk is worth it, and what can you do to improve your winning odds?
Here are some tips as far as taking risks are concerned:
- Understand the risk – you need to calculate the risk when you are playing the game. Just because a roulette ball pays 36 to 1 does not mean you have to bet on it. If you do the math, you know that your odds of winning are in 1 to 38, or 2.63%. If you wager on the odd/even bets, your odds increase to 47.37%. If you know these risks, you can make better decisions as to what games you should play.
- Set a boundary – do not play with more money than you can afford to lose. Many players who play daily or weekly can do so because they can afford to lose it. Set a clear budget how much of your money is truly disposable, and limit your bets to this budget. You can always come back next time.
- Use a strategy – just because gambling is a game of chance does not mean you cannot practice a good strategy. With blackjacks, you can count cards. With roulette, you can use a betting system. With slot machines, you can choose that have high RTP and low variance. You can also take advantage of no deposit casino bonus to bet for free.
If you just take the time to think of these things, you should be able to win money in the long term. Even if you do not have 100% control, you reduce your risks and increase your odds of winning. Of course, you cannot have strategies in games like the lottery. There are games where the only way to win is through sheer luck.
Summary
Gambling is a game of chance. Even if you play skill games like blackjack or poker, the hand you were dealt with is something that is not within your control. Always exercise caution when gambling—stop if you have lost enough, and stop chasing the money.
Most people who won big were only in it for fun, and you should do the same. Gamble only an amount that you can afford to lose. If you win, good for you. If you lose, it should not affect your quality of life. Lose some and win some is the name of the game.
