While most people play at casinos for some casual entertainment, there are high rollers who throw some epic wagers at table games. These are typically people with expendable resources who can afford to throw extortionate six or seven-figure bets at games of chance.
It’s important to remember that there is a significant element of luck woven into all casino games. Different games and bets change the actual risk involved with wagers, but the house always has their edge and keeping tight control of a bankroll is sound advice for players. But some casino bets still make people’s eyes water and the following is a look at some of the biggest casino bets made in Europe.
Finding the Figures
It’s extremely difficult to get exact details of large casino bets. A popular feature of online casino play, for example, is the anonymity it brings while enjoying a platform featuring a high volume of slots and table games. It’s not like people in land-based casinos want everyone to know they’ve just pocketed a fortune, either. Casinos also prioritize the privacy of high-rollers, so it’s very challenging to get details of large wagers. But it’s a little easier to track down details of big wins, which typically don’t happen without a considerable stake.
Most Famous Gambler in Europe
Charles Deville Wells is famously known as the “man who broke Monte Carlo.” The legendary gambler, who also had a reputation as a con artist, won large sums of money at the roulette table in the iconic Monte Carlo Casino.
It’s reported that over a few days of high-risk gambling in 1891, Wells won 23 of 30 games in a run of extraordinary odds-beating fortune. Estimates put his initial starting balance at 4,000 Francs (approximately $400,000 in today’s money), which he turned into approximately $4 million.
Casino Zurich Payout
An anonymous winner once picked up a record CHF 7,793,928 payout jackpot prize at Casino Zurich in Switzerland. The game was linked across 11 casinos and entries for the Swiss Jackpot game started as low as CHF 1, but there’s no record of how much the winner staked.
Poker Win in Monte Carlo
Poker tables in Monte Carlo are a big lure for high rollers, and it’s a place that has hosted international poker tournaments. Poker pro Gavin Griffin won the European Poker Tour title at the Monte Carlo Casino in 2007, walking away with €1.8 million.
Café de Paris Slots Win
The Café de Paris on the French Riviera, which has more than 600 slot machines, saw a massive slot payout in 2018 – an anonymous mega jackpot win of €958,950. It’s claimed that the Café de Paris is where the most jackpots in town are hit annually.
Les Ambassadeurs
There is a story about gambler Philip Green winning around $2 million in Les Ambassadeurs casino in Mayfair, London. The story goes that he was so successful one night that he almost broke the casino. However, those stories were never actually confirmed or denied by him.
Mike Ashley Scores
Mike Ashley, the owner of the English Premier League soccer club Newcastle, once won over $1 million on the single spin of a roulette wheel. He had backed his lucky number black 17 with approximately $500,000 in stake, which covered every combination that included the 17, known as a “complete” bet.” The ball actually dropped in 17 and Ashely walked away with a major payout.
Online Casino Score
With online casinos now incredibly popular with players, there have been some noteworthy wins on them, too. An army veteran from England once had the greatest seven minutes of his life on the Mega Moolah game. After depositing GBP 30 and making just 25p bets, within ten minutes he had scooped a staggering GBP 13.2 million jackpot.
Other Moments From History
There have, of course, also been major casino wins elsewhere around the world. William Lee Bergstrom (aka the Suitcase Man) reportedly made the biggest-ever bet in the history of casino gambling during the 1980s. It’s said that he put down a stake of $1,554,000 on a single bet at the craps table at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas.
Stars from the MTV reality show “The Buried Life” once visited the Golden Gate Casino in Vegas and played $125,000 per roulette bet which they attempted to roll over three times. They won the first, so a quarter of a million went on the second stake, the largest ever roulette bet at the time, which they lost.
Ashley Revell’s gambling story is remarkable, not for the size of the win, but for what he went through. Revell sold every possession he had including his house to raise a stake and took that $135,300 to the Plaza Hotel in Vegas and gambled on red. He won, doubling his money. However, it’s a cautionary tale because this is absolutely the worst possible way to gamble. It’s a great illustration of the fine line between risk and reward in all casino gambling.
