High rollers are wealthy individuals known to bet large sums of money at casinos. They enjoy special benefits and VIP treatment that other players don’t have. The more money they spend, the higher their rewards become. These may include complementary items worth a small fortune.
Don Johnson
Don Johnson is one of the biggest gamblers in the history of gambling. He won $15 million over four months from various Atlantic City casinos during a blackjack streak. Many people believed he used card counting to do this, but it wasn’t the case. Using principles of probability, he knew when the odds were in his favor and took full advantage of this.
Las Vegas casinos often go all out to attract high rollers, and the U.S. online gambling market does the same today. Online casinos offer them exclusive perks and benefits. They may get invitations to exclusive tournaments and cashback offers. Johnson would get $50,000 just for showing up at a casino on a given day. He also negotiated many special rules that gave him an advantage. For example, late surrender meant he could give up on his hand after the dealer checked for blackjack and still bet back half his bet.
Phil Ivey
This famous high roller is considered to be one of the best poker players of all time. He won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet back in 2000 and has 11 bracelets altogether.
He dominated in cash games and live tournaments with his patience, skills, and being impossible to read. This earned him over $38 million in live earnings during his career. Ivey started to win big at a time when people were starting to realize they could have fun with friends playing poker. This is because games were being televised for the first time.
Akio Kashiwagi
Akio Kashiwagi was a Japanese businessman who became rich at a young age through clever real estate deals. When visiting casinos, he would stake and win millions of dollars in a session.
The year 1990 was a big year for him. He won £11 million in a single hand at an Australian high roller casino, and Donald Trump invited him to play in his casino in Atlantic City. Kashiwagi managed to win six million dollars in a game of baccarat. Trump wanted a rematch to recoup his losses. After a game that lasted five days, Kashiwagi admitted his defeat and left almost $10 million at the table.
The Sultan of Brunei
The Sultan of Brunei is a very rich man and is infamous for his hedonism and constant pursuit of a better lifestyle. The Sultan owns many luxury cars, including Rolls-Royces and Ferraris. He has a private Boeing 747 worth about $400 million and the largest residential palace in the world.
Gambling is illegal in Brunei, but the Sultan frequently visits high roller casinos in London. He is often accompanied by his brother, Prince Jefri, and they spend millions of dollars in a single night. His ex-wife is also known for her reckless gambling sprees.
Bill Benter
Bill Benter was blacklisted in all the Las Vegas casinos by the time he was 27. This happened because he was part of a professional card-counting team. This is when Benter decided to go all in on horse betting.
He started to test out whether it was possible to statistically predict which horse would win. It took him some time, but he was able to develop software to reliably predict a winning horse. In 1990, he won more than $600, and he and his team won more than $1 billion over the next 20 years.