Betting It All on Vegas Roulette Spin

[Kadie]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A British man who has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, will stand in a rented tuxedo on Sunday and bet everything on a single spin of the roulette wheel.

If he wins, he doubles his money. If he loses, he will be left with only the television crew documenting his every move.

more...
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=5&u=/nm/20040408/od_nm/people_bet_dc

[LynzM]

1. ROFL

Saw this yesterday, I think my favorite bit is the "because I like to do things properly" LOL

[amazona]

2. it's a publicity stunt

He is not a professional gambler. He is an actor or a b.s. artist or self-promoter whatever you would like to call him but he certainly isn't a professional gambler. Real professional gamblers have an understanding of odds and variance, and they don't put everything on one bet, and certainly they don't put any amount of value on a negative expectation bet.

Nor do they cared to be filmed for a TV crew on live TV...nor are they approved to place bets in Hard Rock Casino. Known professional gamblers are asked to leave the premises as soon as they are identified (and who cares, because their games are crummy anyway). Keep in mind, to make a bet of this size, it must be pre-approved by management.

It's a lot of money to pay to draw attention to yourself but some people's lives are that small, I guess. Maybe he'll feel like a real person after he's been in a TV show. Win or lose, he still won't be a real professional gambler, though. This takes education and effort, something he won't achieve with one spin of a roulette wheel.

I know, I'm so mean and snotty. But let's be real...the real name for someone who sells everything to fund his gambling at a game where the casino retains the advantage is "gambling addict." There are millions of them in the U.S. along -- needn't go all the way to Britain to find one.