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I backed a horse today at twenty to one. He came in twenty past four. Tommy Cooper
Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you. Muhammad Ali
To be a successful gambler you have to have a complete disregard for money. Doyle Brunson
It really just means what you are going to take for granted, what your acts are, and what you’ll assent to, gamble on. Colin McGinn, philosopher
Life is a gamble at terrible odds – if it was a bet, you wouldn’t take it. Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, 1967
Mote: You are a gentleman and a gamester, sir.
Armado: I confess both. They are both the varnish of a complete man. William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost I ii 42-43
Baltimore is an American port city ... ‘crab cakes and heroin’. American Gangster: Melvin Williams & The Baltimore Hustle, BET 2013
Kingpins like Melvin Williams. The man who brought dope to Baltimore. ibid.
‘I was a world class gambler by then.’ ibid. Williams & the manipulated dice
‘You could win two million in there if it was your night.’ ibid. Williams and the pool hall
In 1967 they [rozzers] made their move. ibid.
He would make parole after serving four. ibid.
‘We call it weigh-money – it comes so fast you have to weigh it.’ ibid.
January 1974 … He was sentenced in March 1975 to 15 years. ibid.
Off-track betting was still illegal. It was a high-stakes racket. Bookmakers would pay as much as twelve-hundred dollars a week for access. Mobsters s1e25: Mickey Cohen, Biography 2008
By the end of the decade there were more than 7,500 gambling dens in the city. Mobsters s2e6: Tony Accardo, Biography 2009
Gambling was still the outfit’s most profitable racket. ibid.
The Outfit’s Las Vegas casino The Stardust was full of gamblers spending money. ibid.
The elite always looked upon gambling as an evil. Only when they used it as a pleasure or for the purposes of personal gains was it legitimate and not sinful. Meyer Lansky, notebook
One more time. Come on, man. The Cincinnati Kid 1965 starring Edward G Robinson & Steve McQueen & Ann Margret & Tuesday Weld & Rip Torn & Karl Malden & Joan Blondell & Midge Ware & Jack Weston et al, director Norman Jewison, kid to McQueen
You’re trying too hard, man. You just ain’t ready for me yet. ibid. kid
No Gambling Allowed. The Hustler 1961 starring Paul Newman & Jackie Gleason & Piper Laurie & George C Scott & Myron McCormick & Murray Hamilton & Stefan Gierasch et al, director Robert Rossen, sign in billiards hall
This thing isn’t about a gambling debt? 2 Days in the Valley 1996 starring Charlize Theron & Jeff Daniels & Danny Aiello & Greg Cruttwell & James Spader & Teri Hatcher & Glenne Headly & Eric Stoltz & Peter Horton & Marsha Mason & Paul Mazursky et al, director John Herzfeld, assassin to assassin
Gallitep ... imagine living through that hellhole ... the pain ... the sorrow ... Do you think they like to gamble? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s1e19: Duet, Quark
You see, I have a dream. A dream that one day all people – Human, Jem’Hadar, Ferengi, Cardassians, stand together in peace. Around my dabo tables. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s3e2: The Search II *****
The race-wire broadcast the results to bookmaking runs throughout Los Angeles. So that people could lay bets up to the last moment. It was split-second timing. And Mickey [Cohen] was the king. James Ellroy, author L A Confidential
‘No, he’s a gambler.’ Gatsby hesitated, then added cooly: ‘He's the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919.’
‘Fixed the World Series?’ I repeated.
The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as something that merely happened, the end of an inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people – with the singlemindedness of a burglar blowing a safe. F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
One thing I have learned in my painful career as a gambler is that bragging when you get lucky and win a few games will plunge you into gloom and unacceptable beatings very soon. It happens every time. Hunter S Thompson
There is no fool like a careless gambler who starts taking victory for granted. Hunter S Thompson
There are many harsh lessons to be learned from the gambling experience, but the harshest one of all is the difference between having Fun and being Smart. Hunter S Thompson
I have long understood that losing always comes with the territory when you wander into the gambling business, just as getting crippled for life is an acceptable risk in the linebacker business. They both are extremely violent sports, and pain is part of the bargain. Buy the ticket, take the ride. Hunter S Thompson
Kirkland senior struck a bet almost 10 years ago with William Hill that Chris, then starring for South Leicestershire Under-15s, would one day play in goal for England. The bet, contrary to reports, was not £100 but £98.10, which somehow adds to the romance, suggesting that Mr Kirkland just emptied whatever was in his pockets on to the counter.
Yesterday I spoke to Graeme Sharp, the spokesman for William Hill, who told me that in the wake of the Kirkland bonanza he fully expects a rush of proud parents backing little Jimmy to play in the 2015 Rugby World Cup or little Jemima to win a gymnastics medal in the 2016 Olympics. Most bookmakers have thousands of such bets already on their files. Graeme told me that his company stands to lose a million quid if a lad called Freddie Martin-Dye ever wins a Formula One grand prix; Freddie’s father, Philip, was offered 1,000-1 and stuck on £1,000. Independent online article 19th August 2006 Brian Viner, ‘Kirkland proves all bets are on when insight, intuition and inspiration meet’
Mark Johnson, who in 1994, with a mate of his, had a 15-team accumulator on the first round of the Uefa Cup.
By the end of the evening, 14 of the results had gone their way, and they needed only Benfica to win to land £15,000. But Benfica had kicked off late and in those days, before the internet and before blanket television coverage, there was no easy way of finding out the score. Mark phoned every national newspaper and even the Portuguese embassy, but no joy. Finally, he remembered that Alfredo, the owner of a restaurant on the Algarve that he’d once been to, was a big Benfica fan. He got the number, and phoned Alfredo who, though somewhat bemused by the call, confirmed that Benfica were 2-0 up in injury time. ibid.
The US Powerball Lottery has its roots in Lotto America back in 1988. Today its jackpot regularly tops the $100million mark. Nevertheless, if you thought 100-1 were long odds for a sports bet you should check out the Powerball jackpot odds of 1 in 146,107,962.00. A number of syndicates have overcome these odds to win prizes up to a whopping $340million but the largest ever individual win came in for Leslie Robbins and Colleen DeVries of Wisconsin, USA. They won $111,240,463.10 the largest ever gambling win for an individual. Still you are 73 times more likely to die falling out of bed than win the Powerball lottery. Be careful as you get up in the morning!! BluesQ online article, Big Winners in the World of Betting
In 1997, Suzanne Henley recorded the biggest win on a slot machine netting a cool $12,510,559.90. Her record however lasted only a year when a man from California hit the Nevada Super Megabucks Jackpot for $14 million in 1998! ibid.
The online sports betting customer placed his 50p Canadian – total cost £13 – and then watched as winner after winner came home. After the fifth and final selection had passed the post first, the calculators came out and the final payout was £83,245,80! ibid.