You, Too, Can Defy the Odds!
The casino math may seem to be set in stone but there are times when a player's luck overcomes that certainty. The House Edge seems to be an absolute scientific fact, as much so as the understanding that the earth is round and the certainty that the earth circles the sun.
Most gamers accept casino odds as the price that they pay to enjoy slots that pay real money gambling entertainment but every once in awhile, something happens that reminds us that the unexpected can occur at any moment.
From the legendary Glitch in the Grid in which a single mobile slot paid out three tiered jackpots within one hour, to historic table runs where the laws of probability seemed to simply stop functioning, there are moments when the RNG defies the odds.
Join SlotoCash to explore some of those times where the odds didn't just bend—they defied reality. In the long run the house may always win run but sometimes, in the short run, fortunes are created.
Charles Wells 1891
Charles Wells will forever be remembered as the Man Who Broke Monte Carlo. In 1891, Wells sat at a Roulette table and played for 11 hours and broke the bank (caused the table to run out of cash reserves) 12 times. He won 23 out of 30 consecutive spins which meant overcoming 1 in 163,000,000 odds. Wells claimed to have an infallible system but there's no evidence that he did - it seems to have simply been the greatest hot streak in human history.
William Lee Bergstrom 1980
William Lee Bergstrom became known as "The Suitcase man" because he entered the Las Vegas Binion's Horseshoe casino in 1980 carrying 2 suitcases. One suitcase was empty while the other contained $777,000 in cash. He bet the entire amount on a single Don't Pass Craps table wager. He won his bet, filled his empty suitcase with his $777,000 win and walked out without placing another bet.
Patricia Demauro 2009
Patricia Demauro played craps at the Borgata in Atlantic City in 2009 for 4 hours and 18 minutes, rolling the dice 154 times without sevening out even once – overcoming 1 in 1.56 trillion odds. No one knows exactly how much she won but it's estimated to be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Frederick Smith 1973
The story of Frederick Smith remains one that still has professors scratching their heads over in Business Schools across the United States. In 1973 FedEx was on the verge of bankruptcy, with only $5,000 left in the company’s bank account. The company didn't have enough to fuel the planes for another week. Founder Fred Smith took the company's last $5,000 to Las Vegas and played Blackjack. In just a few days he turned that $5,000 into $27,000 which provided just enough wiggle room for the company to secure a $11 million loan. Today, FedEx is a multi-billion dollar global giant.
Archie Karas 1992
Archie Karas had a run of good luck in 1992 that made him a Vegas legend. In 1992 Karas drove to Las Vegas with only $50 in his pocket. Over the course of the next two and a half years Karas turned that $50 into $40 million. He played poker against the world's top professionals then moved to Craps and Baccarat. By the end of his run he was betting hundreds of thousands per roll. Mathematically, sustaining a winning streak of that magnitude across different high-variance games is almost immeasurable. He essentially beat the house every day for nearly 30 months.
Ashley Revell 2004
Many casino players look to beat the casino with a system but Ashley Revell used pure, unadulterated risk. In 2004 Revell sold everything he owned — his clothes, his car, and his house — and headed to the Plaza Hotel in Vegas with $135,300 which he bet on Red at the Roulette table. The ball landed on 7 Red. Revell used his win to start a Poker Tournament company Poker UTD.
Kerry Packer 1995
Kerry Packer, an Australian billionaire, won $20 million playing in 1995 playing Blackjack and Baccarat across several tables at once. In an act of defiance against the house’s profit margins, he famously tipped the head dealer and the waitress $1 million each. His wins were so massive that several casinos in London and Vegas reportedly banned him—not because he cheated, but because his luck was too expensive for their insurance policies.
Dominic LoRiggio, 21st Century
Dominic LoRiggio acquired the name "The Dominator" after he learned the art of "Controlled Shooting" - throwing dice so they slide or bounce in a predictable way. He won hundreds of thousands of dollars, demonstrating that, even though casinos claim that there's no way to master the physics of dice, he could tilt the 1.41% craps house edge in his favor.
Expert Tip
It's not common to be able to defy the casino house edge but these stories demonstrate that it can happen. But - don't ignore reality. There are stories about times when casino odds defied reality. But keep in mind that for every person who hits a 1-in-a-million jackpot, there are 999,999 people for whom the odds remained as expected.
Regardless of whether you're on a winning streak, you feel that you're "due" for a hit or it seems that it's time for the odds to shift in your favor, never exceed your budgeted bankroll for your gaming event. The minute that your entertainment budget runs out, shift to playing casino games in the Free Mode until you've rebuilt your funds to resume your gaming recreation.
