Casino owner Benny Binion revolutionized gambling in Las Vegas. Before him, casinos just accepted “small” bets and wanted to slowly but steadily capture every player’s bankroll. Binion, on the other hand, let his visitors’ first bet be their only limit. If you wanted to bet $100,000 on your first blackjack hand that was totally fine, but you couldn’t raise the stakes later in the session. This was something William Lee Bergstrom wanted to take advantage of.
On day in the mid 1980s Bergstrom walked into Binion’s Horseshoe Casino with a suitcase containing $777,000. He went over to the craps table and bet it all on the Don’t Pass Line. He won the bet and this was the starting point of an amazing hot streak.
Bergstrom came back a while later and doubled a $590,000 wager, and later a $190,000 bet and lastly he won another $90,000. Everybody there saw that this was a player playing the rush. Unfortunately, as many casino gamblers throughout history, he didn’t know when to stop.
On day he stood in the lobby again – now with a suitcase containing one million dollar. He bet the money and lost. The streak was definitely over. Three months later he decided to raise the stakes once again. Bergstrom wagered what he had left in a game of Russian Roulette. He lost. This time with a deadly outcome.
