Top 5 Craziest Casino Bets of All Time

You’ve heard of losing your shirt at the casino before, but these folks take crazy bets to a whole new level.

In ascending order of madness, here are the 5 craziest casino bets of all time:

5. The largest bet involving novelty items

Back in 1989 a crazy Welshman who is unknown to history entered his local bookie shop and placed a £30 bet that the following things would happen before the end of the century:

• 4 to 1: Singer Cliff Richards is awarded a knighthood
• 3 to 1: Irish mega rock group U2 remains a group
• 5 to 1: East Enders, the British soapie, still shown on British television
• 8 to 1: Soap opera Home and Away still being shown on television

The bookie gave the Welshman odds of 6,479 to 1 and a few days after the year 2000, the Welshman walked into the bookie office to collect his winnings of £194,400 – not bad for a day’s work.

4. Mad Londoner Ashley Revell bets it ALL on a single spin of the roulette wheel

It was 2004 when Londoner Ashley Revell sold everything he had including clothes and emptied his bank account to the tune of $135,300.

One quick trip to Vegas later and Revell was ready to bet it all on roulette – here’s what happened:

Yes, it was an interesting result to say the least.

3. Poker Legend Johnny Moss in a fist fight bet

The story goes that Poker Legend Johnny Moss once stood in a bar talking to a man who stated that he had never ever lost a fight before. Moss’s friends offered to test this theory and offered Moss 15 to 1 on his money. Moss took up the offer and got ready for the fight.

A few broken bones and a painful hospital adventure later, Moss came out with no regrets stating that “15 to 1 was too good to pass up.”

2. One Social Security Check becomes $1,000,000

Las Vegas residents are used to the vagaries of fortune, but for one man life was about to turn around in a big way. Having just been kicked out of his house by his wife, the man took everything he had to the Treasure Island Casino. The man smelt so bad that even Lady Luck was afraid of him and he turned a profit of $1,000,000 playing blackjack.

Sadly, the man kept on playing and lost it all in the same session.

1. Betting it all: William Lee Bergstrom

Casino owner Benny Binion drastically changed Vegas gambling bu allowing large bets – the first bet was the only limit.

One day William Lee Bergstrom strolled into Binion’s Horseshoe Casino with $777,000 tucked under his arm and bet everything on the Craps table Don’t Pass line. He won and his luck just continued.

He went on to win $590,000 and then $190,000 and finally $90,000, and then he lost everything, not knowing when to stop. Undeterred, he returned with a million dollars and promptly lost that too. Bergstrom lost the ultimate bet three months later playing Russian Roulette – with final consequences.