Million dollar roulette bet
11 December 2009, Staff writer
A million dollar roulette bet
Can you imagine making a single roulette bet, red or black, one spin...for a
$1,000,000?
A million dollars buys many things. It buys a very nice
house, a luxury yacht, an exotic car (or two or three) and it will certainly
take the sting out of life's incessant stream of bills and expenses.
For most of us it is the type of sum that is life changing.
A sum to be guarded, protected, invested wisely, nurtured even. This is
how I see a million dollars (or how I would see it if I ever had it!).
You'll appreciate my surprise then (or rather amazement) when
Livedealer.org was approached recently by a player wanting to place a $1,000,000
roulette bet and wanting me to find a live casino willing to take the bet!
That's not a typo - one million dollars is the proposed bet.
And this is not a fabricated site promotional exercise. As far as I can
possibly tell, his intent is sincere. A single even money bet - probably
red or black. Mr Roulette (he has requested complete anonymity) says he
will place this bet and win or lose walk away with either $2,000,000 or nothing
and participate no further in the game.
Mr Roulette
At Mr Roulette's prompting I did some investigating to see whether he was
financially capable of making such a bet, and he clearly is. A successful
property developer, he has made a lot of money from a string of resort
developments over the last decade and over lunch last week proudly showed me on
Google-Earth large tracts of coastal land he has 'land-banked' and pegged for
future projects.
He is a larger than life character ('a crazy Greek' are his
own words), but obviously a very astute businessman, fast thinker and sharp
negotiator. As he recounted tale after tale of property investment success
and failure it also became evident that he is highly numerate and very aware of
the concept of risk.
Now I'll be the first to admit that I am no salesman. I
am about as good at selling a concept, product or service as Tiger is at saying
no to sex with a beautiful night club hostess. So I actually spent a good
deal of time explaining to Mr Roulette that (aside from the fact that betting $1
million is ludicrous full stop) his chosen bet was not a good one. Even
playing the European version of the game, as is planned, it's a 1:1 payout on
odds of hitting equal to 18 in 37 or around 48.6% translating to a healthy house
edge.
Poor old Terrance Watanabe's predisposition to roulette and
the even worse paying slots earned him the tag at Caears Palace of a 'house
player' who made bonehead plays on his way to sinking $125 million during 2007.
A baccarat 'Banker' bet would at least offer a better chance
of a win (albeit marginal).
No...roulette's the game. He understands the
mathematics, but likes roulette and expects (and I kid you not) to have a dream
shortly to tell him which color to bet one. A DREAM!
The Dream
It's been around 2 weeks since being approached by Mr Roulette to set this
bet up. Enquires have been made and a live casino has been found that is
willing to take it on. We are now just waiting for the dream. Last
week he did have a dream, but apparently it was a confirmation dream that THE
dream was coming soon.
It's all a bit beyond comprehension but a interesting ride to
be on nonetheless!
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