You probably already know from movies and social issue adverts not to gamble. But if you happen to step inside a casino, some of the things you can witness there are truly off the hook. Huge sums of money being won and lost can make people do bizarre and disturbing things. It’s a crash course in the best and worst of humanity.
Casino employees and regulars alike spilled the tea about the wildest things they’ve ever seen, and it was like watching a roadside car crash. It’s terrifying, but you can’t look away. We’ve curated their most powerful stories to share with you below. Let them serve as a warning!
#1
Former poker dealer here.
Dealing a $55 sit-n-go (single table tourney) when this woman walks up to the table with a newborn baby in a car seat, proceeds to put the baby in the middle of the table and yells at the guy sitting in seat #4-
“if you don’t want to come home to watch him, you can watch him here!!”
She then storms off leaving the baby at the table.
Dude wisely grabs the baby and takes off after his wife.
Everyone was pretty shocked, so to cut the tension I said “that’s not how you raise a baby, it’s table stakes!”
This was in Florida, but you all probably assumed that.
Image source: Babyproofer, engin akyurt
#2
A casino in South Africa had an incident where a guy lost all his life savings there. He returned later, poured petrol on himself and set himself on fire. Quite tragic honestly, I can’t remember if they managed to put him out or he perished.
Image source: Secret_Agent_666, Ayo Ogunseinde
#3
I worked room service.
I was taking some wine to a guest and went to the elevator. As the door opens there’s this older (at the time) gentleman huddled on the floor in the corner wearing what seemed to be a nice suit.
I asked him if he was okay, if I should call someone.
He just says matter of factly “I lost a million dollars”.
I didn’t know what to say and had the most uncomfortable elevator ride of my life.
Image source: _Spastic_, Andrej Lišakov
As Mayo Clinic explains, if you are a compulsive gambler, your absolute priority should be… not to gamble. At all! In any shape or form. This involves avoiding situations that might trigger your impulses to make bets.
“Tell yourself it’s too risky to gamble at all. One bet typically leads to another and another. Give yourself permission to ask for help, as sheer willpower isn’t enough to overcome compulsive gambling. Ask a family member or friend to encourage you to follow your treatment plan.”
There are a few main strategies that can help individuals dealing with these challenges. Behavioral therapy can help teach you skills to reduce your urges to gamble. Meanwhile, cognitive behavioral therapy can aid you in identifying unhealthy, irrational, and negative beliefs, and then replacing them with healthy ones.
Alternatively, your doctor may suggest that you start taking antidepressants and mood stabilizers. Self-help groups and talking about your issues with other people in the same boat as you can also be a big help.
#4
I used to be a dealer at a casino, we had a regular who would spend all day at the tables. He voluntarily had a catheter so he wouldn’t have to get up and “break his winning streak”, he bragged about this, but he rarely ever won. Then of course your run of the mill cheaters, people who owed other people thousand upon thousands of dollars, people who would come in and bet their kids saved up money. It’s all mostly just sad.
Image source: Tough_Candle_9617, Anna Shvets
#5
Drunk guy walking in with a five pound note and leaving with 41K (this was in the late 80’s as well, you could have bought a house with that money then).
Had a cigar stubbed out on the back of my hand when dealing blackjack (I still have the scar to this day). I slapped the player that did it. Next day the manager pulls me into the office and said the player was sorry and an apology was needed. He meant I was the one who should apologize.
I quit on the spot, bought a ticket to Miami and knocked on every cruise line company’s door until I found a casino job. I was 19 at the time and bulletproof.
Image source: Ok-Ship812, Jhont Ant
#6
Not a regular but I remeber my early twenties sitting down at a poker table and getting friendly with everyone else at the table. The guy on the left told me he was down 50k but he was not leaving the table until he made it back….. since I was staying at the casino I came down for lunch the next day… he was still at that table….. part of my hopes he made it back… part of me knows he didn’t.
Image source: Twoarmz, Pablo Merchán Montes
Meanwhile, HelpGuide warns that if your loved one has a gambling problem, then you likely have lots of conflicting emotions.
“You may have spent a lot of time and energy trying to keep your loved one from gambling or having to cover for them. At the same time, you might be furious at your loved one for gambling again and tired of trying to keep up the charade. Your loved one may have borrowed or even stolen money with no way to pay it back. They may have sold family possessions or run up huge debts on joint credit cards.”
At the end of the day, no matter how much support from family and friends can be a boon, it is still the gambler’s decision to quit. In short, you can’t make someone stop gambling.
All you can do is encourage them to get help, support them during their recovery, and protect your well-being (and resources).
#7
I’ve seen a few things as a patron:
The track lighting above a bank of slots caught on fire. Flaming bits were raining down on the machine. Security had to drag people away from the machines, they were still sitting there brushing ash and embers off the screen and out of their hair.
A leak in the ceiling of the casino was dripping water on the players. Attendants wanted to shut down the bank of machines but the players wanted to keep playing, so security got a big clear plastic sheet and covered the bank of machines and the players sitting at them.
Playing roulette and this guy comes up to the table, places his dad’s police badge on the table, the number on the badge was a double or a triple (like 4545 or 353535). He places $100 on the corresponding number. Hits the number, gets paid out $3500. Asks if he can let the $3600 ride. They allow it, he hits again. Wins $126k. Asks if he can let the whole $129.6k ride again, they say no. He asks if he can let the $3600 ride and they allow it. He hits again, wins another $126k. Picks up his dad’s badge and cashed in. A cool quarter million in 3 spins of the roulette wheel. If they’d let him play the full amount, they would have paid out more than $4.5 million. For the next couple of spins, everyone on the table was playing that same number but it never hit again.
Image source: Maxamillion-X72, Kvnga
#8
Grandma’s in the low limit. Waiting at the door before open, staying until close, playing for 5 cents all day. Really sad to see. One day I found one deceased behind the machine. The casino didn’t close, only the low limit area.
Image source: RetardRik, MART PRODUCTION
#9
Didn’t work in a casino, but i am a volunteer firefighter and during a local flood we got called in the casino basement because it was flooded. What shocked me was the water was about ankle height and people just kept playing on the machines…
Image source: kartoffelpueree123, Tear Cordez
If you’ve ever been inside a casino, what are the weirdest and most out-there things you’ve witnessed? Let us know in the comments.
Have you ever had issues with gambling or know someone who has had problems with it? How did you handle the situation? What advice would you give anyone who is struggling with similar challenges?
And remember, if you’re struggling with gambling, it is not a sign of weakness to reach out to a professional for help. You deserve to get better, for your and your loved ones’ sakes.
#10
Guy at the penny slots had a full diaper blowout, got mad at the machine like it robbed him, then kept feeding it singles with one hand while the other hand was holding his pants shut. Security didnt even blink, they just brought paper towels and told him to stop leaking on the chair. He cashed out $42 and left a wet ring on the seat like it was somebody elses problem.
Image source: theexplorer1997, Tima Miroshnichenko
#11
I don’t have any good stories other than one ex-boyfriend who lost his house over a horrific dependency to electronic keno machines. The max payout is fairly low, the most I ever saw him win was $6,000. And he lost it all the same night. $75,000/yr job, $300,000 house… And he eventually lost it to those machines.
Gambling has been the saddest and strongest [habit] I’ve ever seen. And I have tried a lot of stuff, got hooked on a lot of stuff, and been around a lot of people on a lot of stuff.
Image source: HedgehogTop5524, Vanessa V.
#12
A lady who would sit and play slots for hours wheeled her husband around in his wheelchair to keep him near. When she turned to talk to him, she found he’d gone unconscious. Staff called for EMS and we responded in a few minutes. On arrival he had no pulse and thus, wasn’t responsive. We needed to work him as a full code, chest compressions, meds, all that business. Thing is she had no idea how long he’d been out and the other people at their slot machines wouldn’t move out of the way to give us room to work the old man. They’d get angry when we’d ask them to move even for just a bit. “No way, this is MY machine. I’m NOT MOVING!” No mercy for strangers and no respect I guess.
Image source: blokeonarope, Curated Lifestyle
#13
Husband had a heart attack and the EMT’s needed medication out of the wife’s purse. She couldn’t be bothered to get the medication as the slots handle wasn’t gonna pull itself. Husband passed away in the ambulance. She was charged with negligent homicide.
Image source: Pokrok1976, Adhen Wijaya Kusuma
#14
Saw a person hit a 30k jackpot on 3 card poker. Gave it all back over the following weeks.
Saw a guy come in and bet 20k one one hand of baccarat. He thought he won, he lost.
Saw a guy turn down a 10k jackpot because it would be reported to the IRS and then his wife would find out he had been at the casino.
Watched my soul slowly being sucked into a vortex of depression and loathing.
Saw a coworker get taken out in hand cuffs because she had been stealing money with a group of players for months.
Image source: juggler434, Ruslan Rozanov
#15
When my brother started working for the local casino, he found out my family used to be wealthy, and my grandmother gambled away millions. She confessed that my grandfather had willed it to be for his kids and grandkids’ college educations. I grew up poor, on welfare. I was furious.
Image source: Nereshai, Getty Images
#16
I used to work the main bank in a couple of casinos.
I kicked a pregnant lady out one night for trying to cash an out-of-state welfare check. I told her, “If you cash this, I will have it all in 20 minutes. I’ll be calling the three other casinos in town to let them know you aren’t allowed in tonight. Go home and take care of your kids.”
She stormed out. The pit boss came over and said, “Officially, I’m supposed to tell you never to do anything like that again. Unofficially, good job.”
I saw blackjack dealers cash their whole paycheck for dollar slot coins, and walk out broke twenty minutes later. I saw a Hollywood A-lister lose $25K on a craps table with a 25-cent minimum bet. I saw people broke-down on the road because they didn’t have enough money to fill the gas tank to leave town. I saw a CFO lose $80K in one morning playing all 8 hands at a roped-off blackjack table. I also saw little kids locked in the car for eight hours because Mom was inside playing the slots.
Image source: nobody_really__, Tim Mossholder
#17
Knew a detective at a casino: he started a shift, saw a guy at a slot machine. left his 8-10 hr shift, saw the guy still at the machine. came back AFTER THE WEEKEND AND SAW THE SAME GUY AT THE SAME MACHINE WEARING THE SAME CLOTHES.
He also said they weighed money bc counting was too slow. This applied to bills, not coins.
Image source: benskinic, Pablo Merchán Montes
#18
I used to do special events in Atlantic city casinos. Wedding and fundraisers and such. I remember once starting a load in at around 6am one morning and saw an old lady with a green oxygen tank at a slot machine next to the escalators. Had to go by her like 30 times. When we loaded out at 3am she was still there but with a red(stripe) oxygen tank. Someone changed out her tank so she could keep feeding 20s.
Image source: wesbug, Serena Koi
#19
Back in early 2000s the choctaw casino would allow, turn a blind eye, to people bringing kids and leaving them in the entry way of the casino. Im talking dozens of kids with sleeping bags and pillows and sippy cups at 2 in the morning while thier family was gambling away their rent money.
Image source: HarryR13, Mikhail Nilov
#20
Friend’s wife was the admin assistant to the CFO or one of the executive finance directors in $LARGE_CASINO.
She told me about the *shelf of binders of home properties* that the casino now owned the mortgages to, because people had literally remortgaged their homes to keep gambling, lost, and lost their homes to the casino.
The CFO didn’t want to be in the real-estate business, and was trying to figure out how to get rid of hundreds of residential properties people had lost to gambling.
Incredibly sad and sobering to hear.
Image source: -rwsr-xr-x, Atlantic Ambience
#21
I have four decent stories.
Weirdest moment, coming into work at 5 am, on a Tuesday, I was passing by a bar and the only patrons it had was a very tall man with two gorgeous women. The women both had on leather collars, and he held leashes and he led them around. Woke me up more than coffee would that day.
Saddest, I was setting up for a poker tournament for later in the day and there was a guy alone at the bar playing the digital poker game that is built into the bar. He was alone because the bar wasn’t even open that early in the morning. He was wearing business clothes and just had a sad expression on his face. While I was setting up he won a jackpot, 8k, his expression didn’t change at all, he just sat there and kept playing as if it never happened. About an hour later he hit another jackpot for 6k. He just sat there looking sad and kept playing.
Still sad, so many people arrested for bringing their kids to the casino and just leaving them in car for hours. It seemed to happen like every other week.
Funniest, I went into the bathroom on the conference room floor on a Friday morning and there was a man standing at the urinal snoring head against the wall, sleeping standing up. His phone had fallen on floor and was playing Michael Jackson songs. He would periodically wake up and drunkenly begin to sing the songs before passing out again. He actually had a decent voice.
Bruno Mars would frequently play at MGM. Our casinos theater was a good size but couldn’t justify booking Bruno. It would be a loss there just weren’t enough seats. But the MGM books him anyway, and that’s because they know on average he loses over a million dollars every time he steped onto the casino floor between himself and his friends. So they take a loss on the theater portion knowing they will recoup their money due to his habit.
Image source: ohnolookitsgodzilla, cottonbro studio
#22
People who i worked with would spend half their paycheck before taking the bus home. Not very crazy, just sad.
Image source: pop_tab, Faruk Tokluoğlu
#23
My good friend went to the casino with her husband with a $500 limit each and they stayed the night. They do pretty well for themselves but they have kids and aren’t rich. She texts me they won a $15k jackpot and were going to dinner to celebrate, that the casino comped them another night.
I text her the next night asking if she made it home safely. She says they’re home, exhausted and she sounds bummed. I asked her if she lost any of the money and she said they gambled all night and left down $50. I was impressed. She meant down $50 in ADDITION to losing the entire $15k.
That type of money would be life changing for me. I was shook.
Image source: Lillydunn, Karolina Grabowska
#24
A guy sat next to me, looked like [he] had been beaten and run over. Had a huge arm cast, had the hospital band on and everything.
I figured he was going to ask me for money. He pulled out a wad of hundreds. Had to be between 5K-10K. And started playing. Didn’t expect that.
Image source: throwaway9488tx, Nathan Dumlao
#25
During COVID lockdown, I managed several video poker locations outside of Chicago that we had to temporary close which involved me going into locations with armed guards to remove cash
payout machines.
Why? Because a customer tried to proposition me and the armed guards to let her into one of the locations to play because she explained that playing helped her manic depression and harmful thoughts.
We had to notify both local and State Police that she needed help. From this encounter, I learned all about what 5150 meant.
Image source: Maximum_Trade5916, Uday Mittal
#26
Worked at a casino…. The amount of money some people play with is astonishing. 3 regular players on Mini-Bac that would bet $25k a hand. Also had a weekly $200-$400 limit poker game the same nine dudes would play. Average buy in was $60k- $75k.
Image source: XNewRoman34, Clay Banks
#27
I work at a casino. I once saw a middle aged couple enter the casino with two large samsonite luggage bags, go to the cashier’s counter, and transfer the bags to the staff. The bags were filled with $50 and $100 notes, bundled with rubber bands.
It was so much cash that it took 4 staff about an hour to count it all with an industrial sized money counting machine. It was also the most amount of cash I had ever seen my entire life, and till this day I’m not sure how the money that the couple brought in was not flagged as a money laundering issue.
Image source: winterequinox007, Shojol Islam
#28
Seeing regulars walk out with trashbags full of pull tabs at tax time was always funny to watch, they would dig through trashcans pulling them out.
Certain machines that used a card we could just print out a card statement for them but the high rollers (indian casino bingo regs) played the pull tabs and needed the actual losing ticket as a receipt or something.
Image source: DefEddie, Sarah German
#29
90+ year old Chinese lady who would take the dirtiest chip from her pile and suck on it while she played to “ingest” the luck of previous players.
Image source: Ohshitwadddup, MART PRODUCTION
#30
I’ve seen a few people pass away at their machines. Usually it’s old people who just slump over. We call the on-staff EMTs who cart them off to who knows where before passing them on to the morgue. There was one guy who choked on a piece of steak. I wasn’t there but my coworker tried the heimlich and it didnt work. The casino gave him a few days off after that.
Image source: GodsEepiestSoldiers, Albert Stoynov
#31
Not firsthand but ten years ago I called an Uber, the driver was my age (early 20s), and when I got in his backseat he looked kinda shaken. We drove maybe 30 seconds in silence before he said, “Dude…”
Started venting that he had just picked up one of my neighbors (wouldnt say which, good for him) forty miles north, from the Hard Rock Casino, and listened to him sob for over an hour about how he has to tell his wife he lost all their savings in one drunken afternoon with colleagues.
Image source: BigReaderBadGrades, Ketut Subiyanto
#32
Not really a regular, but I was at the casino a couple weeks ago and watched someone win the super-giant $20k-ish jackpot at a slot machine, leave to go collect their earnings from the cage, and then come back to the same machine to feed all of their money into it and play the highest possible bet. I left about 20 minutes later when I had gone through the $100 I brought and they were still at it.
Image source: bbbbbthatsfivebees, SLNC
#33
I have a distant family member who blew two entire low six figure inheritances at the casino, both within a few months of receiving it, playing penny slots. It’s bordering on psychosis. Someone followed her once to see how she does it; has rituals about how she touches the machines, sings to the machines, stuff like that. It’s truly horrifying.
Image source: Ragnaroq314, Pavel Danilyuk
#34
People soiled their pants fairly regularly. Saw a regular sell her wedding ring to another punter at the $5 blackjack table. Gross place.
Image source: sloppyjohnny, Pavel Danilyuk
#35
I never worked at a casino but I did have another player flip me a $10 chip when he won big on my roll (craps). 3 hours later, he tracked me down and asked for it back.
Image source: PatientOwn8596, RDNE Stock project
#36
I watched a lady spend her grandson’s college fund on slot machines because he had become a [bad] kid.
Image source: b-hizz
#37
I wrote slot machine software, absolutely hated every minute of it, and had to suffer being around people who liked them and played them. The worst are the absolutely hopeless gamblers. I’ve seen grannies on oxygen bottles feed 20’s into a machine almost as fast as the machine could win them. I’ve seen dudes play entire banks at a time, just walking up and down the rows, hitting the spin button, not paying one bit of attention to any of the outcomes; I’ve no real idea what exactly they were expecting.
There’s people stupidly throwing away money, and then there’s the disease, and that’s something very different; you’ll know it when you see it, and it’s gross.
Image source: mredding
#38
My friend puked all over the blackjack table, all the cards and the dealer. We’d just eaten an all you can eat seafood buffet and been drinking purple hooters. It was this slimy seafood gumbo, it was truly horrific. People just left their chips and walked away.
Image source: Common-Accountant-57
#39
My grandad owned a casino in Elko, Nevada that my dad managed before he got married. He has a ton of little stories but the one that comes to mind was Anne Margaret driving through with a bunch of young guys (I think they were a band) who then took off, leaving her there without any of her personal belongings. My granddad and several other businessmen in the area put her up with a safe place to stay and helped her get funds and in touch with her manager. She kept in touch with my grandfather and went back a lot over the years. My dad’s memory is pretty deteriorated so some of the details might be off, but he capped the story with, “Yeah, the last time I saw her it was in Puerto Rico with Steve Martin. You know, he’s a really funny guy.”
Image source: PinkestDream
#40
Dudes who think they can control the dice losing fucktons of money at the craps table. Somehow their confidence never wavers in the slightest.
Image source: cuteplot
#41
We went to Vegas once and met some girls by the pool. We thought they were all together but there was one girl who had just met the rest of the girls & had made friends earlier. After the pool we met up later with them to gamble & go to a club. My friend disappeared with the solo girl & we just assumed he got lucky. We didn’t see him till next day. Come to find out that girl was on her honeymoon & wanted revenge on her new husband who cheated at his bachelor party. My friend was so scared he was going to get [unalived] by the guy if he found out. We were all mad it wasn’t us.
This is pre smart phones & social media everywhere so wasn’t as easy to track down a stranger.
Image source: iLikeAza
#42
I worked as a contractor in a Casino whilst it was still live in the 90s in Europe. The amount of CCTV was unreal. International gangs would hit the casinos trying to rip them off. Their mug shots were displayed everywhere so staff would recognise them. These gangs would smear glue on their hands and lean on tables to pocket chips or would employ card counters to game the system.
The staff facilities were quite good behind the scenes from what I recall.
Image source: trebor67
#43
I worked at a casino for eight years.
Saw all kinds of stuff our casino was notorious in the area for power outages many nights we would have the hand pay thousands of customers.
One time was a big event derby night or Superbowl or something nearly every seat was packed. I am trying to get machines booted up for people so when the attendants arrived they had their totals for cash out.
A whole group of old people surrounded me and i thought I was going to get mobbed.
One time on new years a guy showed up with his girlfriend for his 21st birthday and won 50k, cashed out and left. I hope he never gambled again.
One of the coolest was once I’m working on a machine and talking to an older guy with a navy hat and it had the kitty hawk on it, turns out he was on the commissioning crew or inaugural crew of the USS kittyhawk, the cool part is my coworker who happened to be working that day was on the last crew before it was decommissioned so i called her up and they chatted for hours.
Image source: Chadbob
#44
People going to the bathroom in weird places, lots of them. In their seats, in plants and ficus trees, real and fake ficus trees.
A lady set herself ablaze in a Car-B-que over a love triangle gone wrong.
Drunks, lots of drunks w some very strange tendencies and orders.
People leaving oxygen tanks at machines to “save them”. That later question why NaNa suzy is face down in her mash potatoes at my bar. Oh and getting left in peoples wills.
Image source: Acceptable_Eagle_539
#45
Was a dealer; still a dealer. About 20 minutes left in my shift, tap into Ultimate Texas Holdum. Stack of chips in the middle on a full table: tapped dealer say the person hadn’t been there the whole 20 minutes. A couple players say the guy went to the restroom.
Start the first hand and a guy come staggering out of the bathroom. Staggers to the middle spot and spews projectile vomit everywhere…the table, the cards, the rack and checks, MY hands and arms…everywhere. Exorcist level volume of puke.Turns around and wobbles back the restroom.
I stand there for a couple seconds, stunned. Call for the floor, hands and arms dripping. It seems like an eternity until they come over though I’m sure it was seconds. My voice is cracking as I ask to please have a towel. I’m horrified; floor is horrified. Players are asking if we can finish the hand(No, my tray is full of puke) How long until the table is back open?(Not for a long time; this table is now a biohazard.)
Even toweled off, I feel disgusting but I can’t leave the table; chips have to be removed(which takes forever), dealers scheduled behind me are skipping the table/going home. After all is wrapped up, Pit comes over and says,”suppose you want to go home now” I imagine my look was not the nicest, but did tell him I was supposed to go home over an hour ago.
This was over 10 years ago; still work with some of the same dealers who have kept the story alive, since sometimes a new dealer will come up and ask me about the time I was thrown up on. Eww.
Image source: buckeyecat
#46
Was at a bachelor party once and we arrived at this fairly big sized casino and it looked like one of those posh casinos. Anyhow we had a blast and I went to the bathroom and outside my stall and I hear some guy on the phone talking about how he just blew 32,000$. But to be honest he didn’t sound like it was much to him so he must’ve been loaded or something. Never saw the guy, just waited for him to leave.
Image source: DreadfulAK
#47
Just a lot of broken people having crises as they realize how out of control they have become of their own actions.
Basically, exactly what you would expect, which maybe that’s not even that wild.
Image source: nocomments1123
#48
Slightly different perspective but I was on the team that built a casino (not in Vegas, but incredibly opulent). The owner came in about 3 days before the casino was to open. Decided the carpet was not the right red (he said it was blood red, not dragon red) and so we had to pull up all the carpet across the entire gaming floor and replace it. Total cost was about USD$30m for the replacement. On the opening day people were dropping their cigarette butts on the newly laid carpet. No worries though, about once a week they would mow the first 3mm or so off to remove any burns, and simply do that until the carpet was down to a minimum depth then replace the carpet. Just insane torching of money but totally normal for that kind of establishment.
Image source: ars1e
#49
I play a lot of poker. Woman was at my table and got noticeably drunk. her mother and daughter both tried to get her to leave and she wouldn’t.
It got to the point that she was falling over and they had to get security to roll her out on a wheelchair.
It was Mother’s Day.
Image source: way2gimpy
#50
Picked a hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere between Fort Polk Louisiana and Lake Charles (where the casinos are/were). Dude had just got out of jail for some [illegal substance] or alcohol offense, maybe 20-25, had a plastic bag with clothes and nothing else. I offered to drop him off at the truck stop (he was trying to get to Tennessee) and threw him $20. Went to whatever the tropical themed riverboat casino was there back in the day (like 2010ish), and went on the heater of my lifetime playing Mississippi Stud. Turned less than $400 into $11,600 by the time I quit.
Image source: ExactAlmost
#51
Watched a guy playing roulette. He was playing $ 50 chips on the numbers which pay 32 to 1. So, each time, he would put 5 chips down on various numbers. He would hit. Each time, he played $ 250 and would win $ 1600. He did this eight times in a row before I walked off.
I was playing 3 card poker on a crowded table. A guy sits down next to me at the number 2 spot. He is winning on virtually every hand. His wife walks up and asks him how he is doing. He tells her he started with $ 200 and is up $ 8,000.
One time, leaving Vegas ( pre Uber), I asked the taxi cab driver if he gambled. He said he plays all the time. I asked him if he ever hit big. Tells me thst he hit $ 60k once. I asked him what he did with it. I thought he would say something like paid off debt, down payment for house etc. He tells me that he spent the next 6 months giving it back to the casino chasing another slot win.
Image source: texasusa
#52
I had a guy steal my identity in Arizona. He tried to launder money at a casino and hit jackpots twice in one day. He turned my name and all of my information in for the taxes. The casino investigated him and found out it was fraud. Cops came to my house two months later to tell me…in Pennsylvania.
None of the police did anything for the entire week before he did that. I was getting notifications from credit karma each day that he was opening credit cards in my name. I was coincidentally waiting for one to clear so I couldn’t freeze my credit to stop him immediately.
I offered to not press charges if I got to keep the jackpots and paid taxes on them. The cops said the casino already got their money back. I chose to press charges but he plead out. That was in 2018 I think.
Image source: cawkstrangla
#53
I don’t gamble all that often, but for a while there my wife and I went to Vegas fairly frequently.
I think the wildest thing I saw there regularly was the very rich people joylessly gambling alone. Just some guy playing craps by himself using only 1k chips as the minimum. He looked… bored? No one talked to him, he didn’t have any banter with the people running the table, he just mechanically put down chips and threw the dice. He often didn’t even look at what the result of the roll was.
Sometimes he’d step away from the table to take a call. He never looked happy to do so. He never looked like he had any emotions at all. When he wasn’t there rolling the people working the table all would look at each other with a sort of shared understanding of… something I couldn’t identify. You’d know it if you saw it though.
I say he because it was an archetype. I didn’t see the same person do this at any point, just a sort of outline of a human being. I didn’t see one of these EVERY time I went, but it was pretty common. Common enough that I never went two trips without seeing one of them at least once.
They were always sort of abstractly 30-50 year old, white, men.
I mostly restrict my gambling to Gacha games these days.
Image source: azuled
#54
An old woman feeding a slot machine, wearing an oxygen mask, and smoking at the same time. She could have set off the tank if she got careless with her lighter.
Image source: Margotville
#55
I’ve spent my fair share at casinos. Never was a huge fan, but it’s fun. I like to play craps, I’m not good at it but I do okay.
Usually it’s an Asian dude who just has a rack bigger than I can imagine betting on the entire table, picking up bets and placing them elsewhere because he’s focused on the odds. These dudes always win and I stick by them when I play.
But one day I saw a guy drop 1000 on the pass line when he walked up, he hit a 12. Took his winnings and put it back on the pass line. 12 again.
He took that and put it on snake eyes. Won. Left.
I wish I had a Mic for him to drop.
Image source: Adventurous-Dog420
#56
Patron here. After winning about $150 bucks, me and 3 friends thought we go to the hot tub. Can’t because an 85 year old woman passed away in the tub an hour ago.
Another time was at a 4 card poker table. Drunk dude was swearing at the dealer and even slapped her. Security wrecked kicked him out.
Image source: VastUnlikely9591
#57
It’s drastically under reported how many people off themselves on site.
Image source: busy-warlock
#58
I was in a casino in Maryland getting a burger (Bobby Flay’s) and this woman comes in with what looked like her adult kids and they just start stomping the hell out of this dude. Apparently the guy had taken their rent money to the casino.
Image source: Substantial_Row_7108
#59
They opened at 8am and would be full by 830am.
Image source: Explicitstate
#60
-I saw a guy start with $20K and turn it into $120K in less than 30 minutes. He lost it all but maybe $10K in maybe 15 minutes.
-Saw a woman lose $40K, have the floor get her another $40K from her player bank multiple times. She eventually hit a dragon on baccarat that paid her about $180K. If I’m not mistaken, that was at best, money back.
Image source: Damnesia13
#61
Saw a guy getting dragged out by the police, screaming out, “Help, call the police!”
Image source: Sents-2-b
#62
I played poker professionally for 3-4 years. I showed up to the room around 2 o clock and saw that a particular whale was on one of the tables. We’ll cal him Dave.
Dave was a really nice guy, absolutely loaded, and one of the worst poker players I’ve ever seen.
I put my name on the list for the table, as did every other pro in the room. After 3 hours I got on the table and it was me, 7 other pros, and Dave.
It wasn’t a secret that we were pros too. Dave knew it, but I guess he knew we were the only ones who were going to play big with him.
Played til about midnight and once Dave left, we all left. He lost over $200k in a 2/5 game (yes, huge straddles every hand) and every one of the rest of us made money. I only got about 12k, someone else was about 50k.
Image source: No-Hovercraft-9375
#63
Had a guy basically live in the bathroom to avoid losing his spot at the poker table, like 3 days straight no joke.
Image source: Live-Cable7658
#64
I worked for a betting company and designed the Casino software for the website and the store terminals. Some stories:
– The maddest thing was the jackpots you see on games aren’t unique to that casino, it’s for every online casino that pays to have that game – in some cases thousands of online casinos. The odds are not in your favour.
– A moment of karma for my old employer, they once caught someone mining bitcoin on one of the store terminals and there was nothing they could do about it because they didn’t own the physical machine, just its software.
– Virtual game odds are in the billions, and are designed that way. One person won €15k on a game once and there was a meeting that followed it to figure out how because of the odds.
– Dark patterns are rife, psychological tricks and tactics to make you play and for as long as possible.
Image source: BronxOh
#65
I’ve heard stories of people waiting around the atm until midnight, so they can withdraw more money.
They have already withdrawn the maximum for the “previous” day.
Image source: Top-class-0246
#66
Customer wanted to talk to the owner of the casino to get their money back. He gambled his mortgage away and needed the money back before his wife found out.
Image source: HoodxHippy
#67
It was 3am and an 60 plus years old man was right opposite me and I can hear his conversations with his daughter.
“Ill return you when I win it all back”
“Shut up. Can you stop screaming”
“Stop blaming me for everything”
“Its the last bet”
While I can hear the daughter screaming about how he did it on the recent Chinese New Year where he stole all the red packets to gamble, and about how he stole her salary for that particular month to gamble.
It went on for about 15 minutes and I saw him placed his last bet as he finally stood up to go home. I went to check his cash out amount and there was his ticket stub of a few cents.
Its so cliche but dang.
Image source: Wilsonchoo
#68
Been dealing poker for a couple decades now and unfortunately I don’t have any wild and crazy stories other than against the odds hands I’ve dealt, which probably won’t mean much to anyone who doesn’t play poker.
I suppose one of the weirdest nights I had was when one of our regulars came in fairly drunk one night while I was running the floor. While I was sitting by the sign up desk she came over and sat squarely in my lap and immediately got handsy. I locked eyes with my buddy who was also flooring that night and put both my hands up like I was being arrested. She was very attractive, and man was it an awkward situation, but I wasn’t about to risk my job for her. Got her off my lap and back to her seat without much incident. It never got far enough that she needed to leave, but I was very conscious of where she was for the rest of that night. She came in a few days later and apologized/was embarrassed about it.
Image source: like20hobos
#69
Most interesting thing I saw was at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. Believe it is Native American run, pretty cool museum about their people’s history next door.
I was leaving my hotel room to get ice and I happen to aee an elderly Native American man halfway through the elevator. He had a leather pouch in one hand, with the other , he grabbed some powder from said pouch, said something in his language, and dusted the floor with the powder. Went back into the elevator and left.
I know it is not wild but I thought it was pretty cool and interesting.
Image source: DifficultContext
#70
It was me. Playing Texas Holdem limit.
My hand AA. Flopped AAAA. Found myself in between 2 raisers. I was just calling. Eventually heads up. Won that hand Easiy
NEXT hand. AA, Flopped AAAA again. Against the same player as that I just went heads up. back and forth until she finally just called. Beat her full house.
Next Hand. AK. Flopped AAAKK. against the same player yet again. Once again I won.
It was a $1/$2 game. Before that 3 hand streak I was up about $100. but I now had a stack of about $1200 in front of me.
I played a few more rounds then cashed out for about $1100. I’ll never be that lucky again.
Image source: oboshoe
#71
In Vegas, everybody’s gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I’m watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.
Image source: CabotTrail01837
#72
It was me. Went to a casino lounge to play video poker. Sat at the bar and put $20 in. Hit max play and was dealt a royal flush. Took my ticket and left.
Image source: JicamaCreative5614
#73
My (pre)ex and I went to a casino for a couple hours.
I felt guilty as hell about losing $200.
He withdrew and lost $3000 and didn’t mention it until payments bounced.
Image source: oddartist
#74
Went to a casino to celebrate a friends 21st birthday years ago, me and a friend were stood by a roulette table that was spinning, hadn’t put any money down, just watching
My friend says to me ‘red 25’ or something, and we just stand and watch, when the wheel settled, the ball landed in red 25, we looked at each other in absolute awe – he didn’t put money down, such a surreal moment that we agreed nobody else would ever believe, just imagine if he’d made a bet, i try not to think about it.
Image source: theatre_ghost
#75
The amount of kids coming in within days of turning 18 to lose their money was depressing.
Image source: Significant-Ad-341
#76
I saw a guy chasing another guy around a bank of machines with a pair of hair trimming scissors. Saw a group of US marshals execute a warrant on a guy sitting across a table games pit. another time a guy at a table was visibly drunk off his [mind], verbally harassing the cocktail waitress AND the dealer. He was betting green chips and tanking, so they literally let him run out his stack before they had him escorted back to his room.
Fun fact, an overwhelming majority of casino patrons dont wash their hands after using the restroom. if you ever visit a property, use one of the many purell stations scattered around the floor.
Image source: skimaskgremlin
#77
In the heyday of Atlantic City I watched a guy at 11 pm walk over and start banging his head against a wall. In the scheme of things this isn’t that weird but it really woke me up to what gambling results in for some people.
Image source: Due_Lake94
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