-Top 7 Crazy Gambling Wins

7 Crazy Gambling Wins Gambling, the game of risks. Through ups and downs, highs and lows, gambling attracts a massive fan base across the world, being one of the ultimate underground non-contact sports. Whether it's wagers on the game, dice on the board, or lottery numbers on a ticket, there's winners and losers each and every day. These 7 stories recount some of the biggest and craziest wins of all time, proving that even the game of chance can come with a happy ending. Starting off at number 7, The Gambling Record-Breaking Craps Playing Granny A New Jersey grandmother named Patricia DeMauro literally broke all odds on a particularly lucrative evening at the casino in May of 2009. Craps, an especially complicated game with an intimidating amount of variables, is notorious for bleeding players out of their cold, hard cash. Having only played craps one other time in her life, DeMauro proceeded to roll a pair of dice 154 continuous times without ever throwing a 7, a feat that comes with a staggering odds of 1 in 1.5 trillion. Although her actual winnings have never been officially disclosed, having only bought in for $10, one can assume that even the most conservative of betting patterns would return over 50 times that. Moving along to number 6, The Master of All Things Blackjack 48-year-old racetrack manager and regulator Don Johnson, like our number 7, had one insane night at the casino, but this time things were a little more premeditated. Due to the financial crisis of 2008, casinos started to become desperate to attract and entice high-roller gamblers into their establishment. Seeing an opportunity, Johnson made offers to play blackjack at the highest stakes at the Tropicana Casino, negotiating several changes to the standard casino blackjack rules. He was able to gain a mathematical edge over the house, pulling in a cool $1.2 million his first time and returning to do the same to several more, grossing an estimated $15.1 million total. This team figured out how to beat the rules, but in a different way, coming in at number 5. Legally pulling in millions of dollars and effectively beating the system, the MIT Blackjack team is one of the most famous examples of Las Vegas earnings in a more colorful than usual way. Formed in the early 1990s, this group of technical students devised the formula behind card counting, a technique that reveals whether the upcoming cards in a hand will be high or low. By working as a team, a few members would count the cards of a game and signal counts to a third member, betting big exclusively at high count tables. Other members of the group would distract the dealer with huge bets of their own, ignoring the count to roughly break even. Using this formulaic way of playing, they've secured a place of infamy, inspiring multiple television specials, documentaries, essays, and even a motion picture loosely based around the events. Coming in at number 4, a literally out of this world wager with impressive foresight. Writing to the respected British wagering company William Hill in 1964, a man named David Threlfall asked for the odds that a man would walk on the moon within the span of seven years. The representatives offered him some pretty astonishing odds in return, 1,000 to 1, putting a rather far-fetched idea at the time to the wind. Threlfall placed a 10-pound bet, wagering that a man, woman, or child from any nation on Earth being on the moon or any other planet, star, or heavenly body of comparable distance from the Earth before January 1971, and patiently waited. Of course, he proved to be right, and Threlfall received a 10,000-pound check on the spot while viewing the landing. Looking back to the 70s, this gambling man comes in at number 3. Thomas Austin Preston, often referred to as Amarillo Slim for both the city he hailed from and his petite waistline, made a living by being a notorious risk-taker, intent on taking every bet he could with an edge in his favor. Initially learning how to hustle pool in Texas, his brash accomplishments include being a prize-winning card shark. He won the World Series of Poker in 1974, and a highly skilled pool shark, but his real prize was a swindled ping-pong match against tennis player Bobby Riggs, stating that Amarillo would supply the paddles, while Riggs was welcome to choose either. The wager was set for $10,000, to the surprise of Riggs the paddles presented were large iron skillets. His surprise caveat allowed him to win the match with a clear and creatively effective show-stopping move. This lucky dreamer turned $50 into $40 million, landing at number 2 on our list. Archie Karras, a Greek immigrant, grew up in the city of Antipata, on the Greek island of Kefalonia, in near poverty. Leaving his home in Greece at a young age of 15, Karras came to Las Vegas with $50, borrowing $10,000 from a friend at Binion's Horseshoe Casino for a game of high-stakes Raz. Just 3 hours later, he had earned enough money to repay the loan with 50% interest, and plenty more to continue playing. Continuing his nearly impossible streak for almost 3 years, he eventually amassed $40 million in earnings, becoming one of the world's most successful gamblers of all time. And finally, an impressive and celebrity finale to our list, the ever-imitable Sean Connery at number 1. Growing up gambling, even accompanying his father on gambling runs as a youngster, the former Bond has a rich history in the art of the bet. Back in 1963, Connery visited an Italian casino located in the Alps. Stepping up to the roulette wheel, he placed his money on 17, missing until his third roll. Leaving his winnings there, the 35 to 1 wager hit once more, and then another two times. Against odds of 50,000 to 1, he cleared over 17 million lira, which adjusts to over 163,000 pounds in today's economy. Thank you for watching Interesting Top 7s. If you enjoyed this video, click the Like button below and subscribe for new videos every week.