Top 5 Casino Wins Of All Time

2. CHARLIE WELLS – THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK OF MONTE CARLO

This isn’t quite as extreme as Karas’ rise and fall but deserves it place in this list due to its context. Wells only won $1 million but this was way back in 1891 and that probably equals about a billion dollars on the back of inflation. It’s also notable because he literally broke the bank of the casino and a black cloth had to be placed on the table whilst they moved replacement chips from other tables over to the one he was playing at. This is what the phrase ‘breaking the bank’ actually means and unfortunately it wasn’t as cool as the whole casino running out of money – no gambler has ever got close to achieving the feat.

Wells did ‘break the bank’ 12 times during an 11 hour stint at the roulette table in 1891 and it was about this that the famous song was written the following year which accelerated Wells’ popularity. He originally turned up to the casino with £4000 that he had defrauded from investors over a new invention he had claimed to have patented called a ‘musical skipping jump rope.’ It’s unclear whether he paid the money back or just ran off with it, but it appears that he was quite the crooked swindler so it’s probably safe to say he didn’t.

—

Click here for a £50 free bet, on us. Enjoy.

—

He returned to Monte Carlo in December of 1892 again on a yacht with his mistress with money defrauded from another investment opportunity where he claimed that he had developed a fuel saving device for steam ships. The trip on the yacht was allegedly to test this device. Unfortunately for him this time his luck didn’t hold and he lost all his money, as well as that of his investors who he had even asked to send more over to him, due to ‘urgent repairs for his device.’

Wells was extradited back to England and sentenced to 8 years in prison for this crime. Once released he continued to run scams and was in and out of jail for the rest of his life, until he died penniless in Paris in 1922.

â˜› More Dickheads Hanging Out In Boats: Dickheads Crash Speedboat Live On Camera