Question of the Day - 04 August 2011

The answer to this one has to be the jackpot hit on a dollar Megabucks machine in April 2003 at Excalibur, when a 25-year-old software engineer from California, in town to watch the NCAA basketball tournament, hit the $39,710,826.36 progressive with a $3 max-coin bet in.

In terms of other epic wins, which mainly consist of streaks involving multiple bets, as opposed to single wagers, here are the ones that spring to mind, in no particular order:

• Up until last year, the biggest single publicly disclosed winning bet on the Super Bowl that we know of was placed by the late Bob Stupak, of Vegas World/Stratosphere fame, when he wagered $1 million on Cincinnati against San Francisco in 1989. The 49ers won, but the Bengals covered the seven-point spread and Stupak pocketed a cool mil. Legendary gambler and sports book operator Gene Maday, who ran a tiny sports book on the Strip called Little Caesars, booked the bet.

  This record was allegedly beaten on the last Super Bowl. High-profile sports bettor Adam Meyer claims to have won $2.5 million on the game, but it was likely an aggregate win from several bets and remains unsubstantiated. (As an aside, the largest bet ever placed on a Super Bowl game was $4.8 million at The Mirage on the St. Louis Rams to win outright against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI. The bettor lost, as the Patriots won 20-17 on a last-second field goal.)

• In 1980 a Texas horse trader named William Lee Bergstrom walked into Binion's Horseshoe, where owner Benny Binion was famous for his willingness to take any sized bet (as long as that was your first), armed with two suitcases full of cash. Although he stated his desire to bet $1 million at the crap table, Bergstrom explained he'd only been able to raise $777,000, which he wagered on the "Don't Pass" line. The shooter established a point of six and then sevened out two rolls later. Bergstrom took his original $777,000, plus his win of $777,000, and departed.

  He returned on future occasions and placed other giant, though lesser, winning bets until at some point in the mid-'80s, he finally showed up with the full million dollars -- and lost. Three months later he killed himself in a room at a Strip hotel.

• One of the most famous runs at a Las Vegas casino also took place at the Horseshoe, when notorious Greek gambler Archie Karas took the winnings he'd extracted from a number of gambling legends, including Stu Ungar, Doyle Brunson, Bobby Baldwin, and Johnny Chan, and quickly transferred to the crap table, where he proceeded to bet as much as $100,000 on a single roll of the dice. Karas won so much and so often that, at one point, he exhausted Binion's supply of its famous "chocolate" chips ($5,000 apiece). He raked in as much as $4 million and lost as much as $2.5 million per single session, running his bankroll up to an estimated $17 million (all of which he subsequently lost).
• The bigget known roulette bet in Las Vegas history took place in October 2010 and, since Anthony Curtis was actually there to witness what went down, we'll quote his report from the November issue of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter in full.

  "Early last month, something big happened here: the richest known roulette spin in Las Vegas history. Wow! Where did it happen? At Caesars? The Wynn? Venetian, Bellagio, or Aria? No, no, and no. It took place at the diminutive Golden Gate.

  "It all came about because of an MTV show called "The Buried Life," in which four guys conceive and carry out bucket-list-type ambitions. One of the things on their list was to win $1 million gambling. They wanted to bring in $250,000 (donated from various sponsors and other sources) and parlay two spins on a roulette wheel into the mil. Great idea, right? Sure. Except none of the big boys on the Strip wanted to take them on. Maybe it involved too much red tape. Maybe the show’s producers didn’t get to the right people. Maybe there were perception concerns. Or maybe it was as simple as no one had the cajones to risk it. Whatever it was, they got far enough down their casino-contact list to reach the Golden Gate, which said yes.

  "A lot of credit has to be given to owners Derek Stevens and Mark Brandenburg, who don't seem to have a problem doing what a gambling house is supposed to do -- gamble. Of course, that doesn’t mean they didn’t sweat a bit.

  "As soon as I heard about the spin, I decided I had to see it. Talk about a scene; the casino was packed and the place was buzzing. In fact, I had to leave briefly to check out the Monday Night Football party at the Playboy Club and I couldn’t wait to get back to the Gate where the action was.

  "As the spin got closer, the tension got greater.

  "When the show’s stars walked in, there was the feel of a heavyweight title fight. The terms had changed by then and the initial bet was $125,000, so to make the goal they would need three winning spins.

  "I was standing near Derek and Mark, who were back at the bar. The crowd was so thick by then that there was no way to see the wheel.

  "All of a sudden, a cheer erupted from the crowd. Mark looked at me. "Was that a win?"

  "I don’t think so," I answered. It didn’t seem loud enough, but it was loud, so I wasn’t sure.

  A moment later, a roar went up that I thought might bring the roof down. I looked over at Mark and said, "That was a win" (the first cheer was for the placing of the bet). To his credit, Mark just nodded and gave a little smile.

  "One down. Two more like that and the Golden Gate would have to pony up the million. This time when the first cheer came, no one reacted, but rather braced for the next eruption.

  "It never came. The next sound we heard was a collective "Awwwwwwww." I don’t have all the details confirmed, but I believe that the first bet was on red. Then they changed to black and I think it fell red 7. The Big Spin was over.

  "Honestly, it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my several decades in this town. And the fact that it happened at a place that was a mainstay long before I got here made it that much better."

For those with an interest in gambling math, here are a few more details about "the big spin," also courtesy of LVA: "The spin took place on a standard double-zero roulette wheel, which means the odds against winning three consecutive bets were about 9-1. The starting stake was originally $250,000, which would have required only two consecutive wins to reach the million. Had that been the case, the odds against would have been a little less than 4-1. "Word is that the Golden Gate looked into taking out insurance on the original proposition and could have for $240,000. That would have guaranteed the publicity and a chance at a $10,000 win without any risk. They didn’t do it. While the casino collected a $125,000 profit, the mathematical expected win was $6,575 on the first bet and $13,150 on the second. "As discussed in 'Couponomy,' this was the biggest known roulette wager ever, eclipsing the former biggest bet of $220,000 made in 1994. That bet was placed on a wheel at Binion’s Horseshoe by a tuxedo-clad computer programmer from London. The man placed his bet on red, watched the ball drop into the red 7 slot, and left with the money. Another big bet was made a decade later, when a 32-year-old Londoner placed $135,300 on red at the Plaza. Similar to the Golden Gate bet, this one was connected to another reality-TV show called "Double or Nothing." The ball dropped into red 7 on that bet, too, and the player walked away with $270,000 after tipping the dealer the remaining $600."