Infamous Celebrity Gamblers

There are many famous gamblers around the world and Texas Hold’em has probably raised the profile of many more. Nothing beats the antics of this fistful of infamous celebrity gamblers - they became celebrities not because of their good deeds, but because they dared to try and ‘work’ the systems. Too bad their final rewards were steel bars.

Many cheating attempts are undertaken as part of a team and invariably involve an employee of the casino - often the dealer. This first group of infamous celebrity gamblers came to the attentions of authorities after winning large sums on the roulette. Their ploy was simple but soon picked up by video surveillance. The croupier involved would palm a high value chip and while placing the winning peg would drop the chip on the winning number. As usual, greed got the better of them and they simply one to much and too many times.

Cameras and other electronic devices have always been popular and this trio of infamous celebrity gamblers found that nine months behind bars was their big jackpot after using cameras at games of three card poker. Touring the casinos in and around London, they used cameras to film cards as they were dealt. The images were sent to a third person in a van outside the casino. After reviewing the various footage, he would advise them how much to bet. Again, greed was their undoing.

Then their is the simple card counting story where six MIT students took the Vegas casino strip for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was said that when arrested, one of the six had Fifty thousand dollars strapped to each thigh. A hundred thousand dollars, in 10 bricks of hundreds, taped across his upper back and fifty thousand more Velcro to his chest. This time, bragging was said to be their undoing.

Nothing quite beats this last duo who decided to take on an Australian casino at mini baccarat. They managed to remove one of the cards from the play table. Knowing the value of the card significantly improved their odds and they managed to fleece a cool $700,000 before being discovered.

The moral from the infamous celebrity gamblers seems to be that greed will always out you and that eventually, the casinos will cotton on to you and the steel bars of prison await. They make great reading though.