5 most famous gambling events in history
Gambling and casinos always bring together an interesting group of people. When you have this fascinating mix of people, it can often result in some interesting events coming to pass. Here are five famous and wonderfully weird escapades that have emerged from gambling.
The Birth of the Sandwich
John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich was a man that enjoyed his gambling. In between his many roles in the British government of the 18th century, he also enjoyed several passions including gambling. Card games could go on for hours at a time if left unchecked and the Earl was very fond of playing these long games.
According to legend, he began to ask his servants to bring him slices of meat between two slices of bread so he could eat without leaving his cards behind. Others began to copy him, due to the convenience of the meal, and thus the sandwich was born. His biographers have suggested that it was his long commitments that kept him working for hours at his desk, thus needing something easy to eat that would not distract him from his work. However, we much prefer the idea of him not wanting to leave the card table.
Matthew Webb
Captain Matthew Webb was always willing to try something new and dangerous. His name first entered the history books for becoming the first person to swim the English Channel. A few had attempted beforehand but he was the first, completing the swim in 21 hours and 40 minutes. With so many people attempting and failing still to this day, it is a clear indication of how difficult a feat this is.
However, it was his attempt to swim across the whirlpools of Niagara Falls that helped him achieve infamy. He invited people to place bets on whether he would manage to achieve this insane feat. With $10,000 staked on his success, he dove into the water on the 24th of July 1883 but died close to the edge of the whirlpools.
The League of Legends 2016 World Championship
League of Legends is one game that will always pull in the bets. If you love esports and have been known to place a bet on esports every now and then, you will no doubt know that League of Legends is one to watch.
The 2016 tournament was one of the most-watched esports events in the world. While the tournaments usually pull in a massive viewership, the one for 2016 was truly insane. 43 million unique viewers tuned in to watch this tournament play out. In addition to this, there was a peak of 14.7 million concurrent viewerships. For comparison, the 2020 Superbowl attracted 102 million viewers. It just goes to show how popular esports can be. They are slowly becoming more and more mainstream and there is some serious money to be made here for both competitors and bettors.
Patricia De Mauro
Grandmother Patricia DeMauro stopped by Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa on May 23rd, 2009. Though she started on the slots machines, she decided to take a turn on the craps table to break up the play.
There are many rules to craps but, at its simplest, you throw the dice until a 7 is rolled. Since this is the number most likely to come up on a pair of dice, you would think that this might be a fairly simple task. However, Patricia defied all expectations when she began to play.
She rolled the dice an incredible 154 times without hitting a 7! This took her over four hours to do. It is estimated that the chances of this happening are 1 in 156 trillion! Patricia’s rolling was truly incredible and it isn’t known precisely how much she walked away with. Our favourite part of the whole event was that she ended her good luck without rolling a 7 at all. Instead, she graciously decided to walk away from the board to find her friends. She even admitted later that she did not know how to play craps.
If you want to emulate Patricia, you can find your own game of craps at a brilliant real money online casino. That way, you can choose to walk away from the board whenever you please, so you won’t get stuck playing for four hours!
The Big One for One Drop
If you want to give back a little alongside your poker winnings, you need to head to the Big One for One Drop in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is a No-Limit Texas hold’em tournament hosted by the World Series of Poker. What makes it so special is its high buy-in of $1,000,000.
A portion of this high buy-in is donated to charity. As much as $111,111 of each player’s buy-in is donated to the One Drop Foundation. This helps provide clean water initiatives across Africa, Central America, and India. Of course, a big buy-in also means a big prize. The highest prize is from the first tournament in 2012. Antonio Esfandiari walked away with a final prize of $18,346,673.
What Will Happen Next?
These are just some of the truly crazy events that have happened in the world of gambling. With so many different types of games within the world of gambling, there is always the chance that something weird and wonderful will happen. While some individuals like Matthew Webb will have done everything in their power to ensure that they are remembered, there are others like Patricia DeMauro and the Earl of Sandwich who never could have expected to enter the history books.
If you are a fan of playing at a casino, think about some of the times you have visited a casino for yourself. Got any memorable moments? You more than likely do. These are places that bring together some really unique individuals and you never know what you might find. Take a look at some of the other crazy stories from gambling over the years. You can guarantee that there is at least one story for every game!
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Source: Legit.ng
