Millions of people head onto the casino floor each day in search of excitement, camaraderie and the opportunity to earn a fortune. Many fall short in their quest to seize a profit, but there have been some remarkable stories of players cleaning out casinos over the years. These are five of the most fascinating stories from the casino floor:
Elmer Sherwin Cashes in at The Mirage
World War II veteran Elmer Sherwin was among the first customers when The Mirage flung open its doors in 1989. The 76-year-old retiree was travelling around the US in a mobile home with his wife when they decided to make a stop in Las Vegas to visit family. Sherwin was a keen gambler and he made a point of visiting The Mirage for the grand opening. He quickly lost his $100 bankroll, but he asked his wife for an extra $20 so he could try the Megabucks machine just once more. The rest is history.
Sherwin landed a $4.6 million jackpot after defying odds of 49,836,032/1 to line up three key symbols. He used his money to travel the world in style, but he retained a love of casino gaming. Sixteen years later, at the ripe old age of 92, lightning struck a second time, as Sherwin won another £21 million by playing the same progressive jackpot game when he visited the Cannery Casino & Hotel in North Las Vegas. This time he decided to give the bulk of his money to charity. It went towards helping relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
Archie Karas Embarks on a Winning Streak
Legendary gambler Archie Karas was left on the brink of destitution after losing $2 million in an LA poker game back in 1992. The down-on-his-luck Nevada native drove to Las Vegas with just $50 in his pocket in a last-ditch attempt to rebuild his bankroll. Karas ran into a friend at Binion’s Horseshoe casino and convinced the friend to loan him $10,000 to fund a high-stakes game of Razz. He quickly turned it into $30,000 and returned $20,000 of it to his friend.
Karas was also a pool shark. He met up with a wealthy poker and pool player known only as Mr X, and they started playing 9-ball pool at $5,000 a game. Karas had taken Mr X for several hundred thousand dollars by the time they raised the stakes to $40,000 a game, and he ended up walking off with $1.2 million. The duo went to Binion’s Horseshow to play poker, and Karas’ bold approach helped him win another $3 million from Mr X. The story swept through Las Vegas, and everyone was wary of playing against Karas.
He increased his bankroll from $4 million to $7 million in the ensuing months, and challenged the city’s best players to take him on. Karas sat at the poker table at Binion’s Horseshow with $5 million in chips, daring anyone to play against him. Up stepped three-time World Series of Poker Stu Ungar. Karas beat him for $500,000 playing heads-up Razz, and an additional $700,000 playing 7-card stud. The iconic Chip Reese was next up to the table, and Karas took him for more than $2 million over 25 games.
Karas continued to wipe the floor with many of the world’s best players, from Johnny Moss to Puggy Pearson. He suffered a couple of losses, notably to Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, but ultimately Karas racked up more than $17 million in profit. Rivals stopped playing against him, so he switched to playing dice at $100,000 per roll, and Binion raised his 4 and 10 buy bet limit to $200,000. He ended up winning $40 million during a remarkable streak dubbed The Run. Karas’ luck eventually ran out, as he went on to lose $17 million in a baccarat game and ended up receiving a lengthy ban from Nevada casinos, but The Run has gone down in legend.
James Bond Defies the Odds
A tuxedo-clad 007 is regularly seen sipping Martinis while seizing famous victories at casinos across the world. Yet fiction became reality when Sean Connery enjoyed a remarkable roulette run at a casino in the Italian Alps in 1963. The actor had just filmed Russia With Love, he was flush with cash and he decided to try his luck on the wheel of chance. Connery placed his chips on 17, but it missed. Undeterred, he tried again, but suffered another miss.
Connery went back for another go and this time the ball landed on 17. Rather than walk away, he left his chips on 17, and it came in again. This would have been the perfect time to cut and run, but Connery decided to stake all his winnings one last time. The crowd was stunned to see 17 come in for a third time in a row. Connery had defied odds of around 50,000/1. This time he collected his winnings and scarpered. He landed 17 again when playing Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, and 17 was a popular choice among bettors for several years.
Software Engineer Hits the Jackpot
Ethan Miller scooped an astonishing $39,719,826 after staking just $100 at the Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas back in 2003. The 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles faced odds of 16.7 million to 1, but walked off with the largest slots payout in history. It dwarfed the highest poker, blackjack, roulette and baccarat wins of all time, and it still stands as the biggest single casino win ever. It is therefore easy to see why progressive jackpot games remain such a popular choice at online casino sites.
Ivey’s Edge Results in Five-Year Court Battle
Superstar poker player Phil Ivey jetted to London in 2012 to play Punto Banco at the exclusive Crockfords casino in Mayfair. The 10-time WSOP bracelet winner staked £1 million while playing the game, and ended up winning £7.3 million, equivalent to around $11 million. However, the casino refused to pay up after accusing Ivey of dishonest edge-sorting. He was given his stake back and told to leave.
Ivey sued the casino for damages, and the resulting legal battle dragged on for five years. In the end, the UK Supreme Court decided that Ivey had cheated, dismissed his case and ordered him to pay court costs for Crockfords’ owner, Genting Casinos. In the interim, Ivey had won $10.1 million playing the same baccarat game at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Borgata used the same kind of playing cards as Crockfords. In January 2019, a federal judge allowed the Borgata to pursue Ivey’s assets in order to recoup the $10.1 million he won using edge-sorting. Six months later, the US Marshals Service later issued a writ of executive to the WSOP and seized his 2019 winnings to be used towards repaying the Borgata.