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The greatest bet that was to never be was to happen at the Casino Beaux-Arts in Monte Carlo, when J P Morgan, the richest man in the world, walked out because the maximum bet at the casino was only $1,650. This amount was to trivial amount for the likes of himself.
Kerry Packer once won $26 million playing Blackjack for $200,000 a hand, six hands at a time at the MGM Grand.
During a three day losing streak in Las Vegas' Bellagio Casino in August 2000 he lost $20 million, while the year before he lost $17 million.
"Puggy" Pearson is a gambling great. Poker is his game of choice but discovered there was more money in golfing so he learned the game. One time he played with a pro golfer from the PGA Senior tour and was challenged to four shots on each of nine holes. He shot a 75 to beat the pro for $7,000. He was told by the pro while he was writing out the cheque that in 40 years of golfing not one player could ever chip and putt like him.
Arnold Rothstein gambler and gangster in 1817 tried to place a $240,000 bet on a horse "Hourless" in a crucial race. When someone actually took such a major bet, he would smell a rat and would use his influence to change jockeys. He made $300,000.
Independence Day 1921 he wanted to bet on his own horse, Sidereal, but didn't want to attract attention so he reduced the odds and used 40 track men to place bets for him. He nearly lost all his money when his horse showed up within six seconds of the race start; he won $850,000.
He sat down to play poker in 1928 and in 2 days lost $300,000. Less than two months later he was shot down for not paying his debt. But if he had only lived to see the election that year, he would have collected $570,000 as he had made bets on it.
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