44 Times Casino Workers Saw Something Crazy Or Just Very Sad

I had a guy win 40k on a slot machine on one of his first pulls. The guy was so excited and went to cash out. The cage attendant gave him ~2k as his winning. When he asked where the rest of the money was, she smiled and said "child support". Dude had to be escorted out by security.

My name is epicenter and I have a problem…

I was in the Air Force at the time.

Roughly 1996, I tagged along with a couple of friends to Las Vegas. I had no idea what I was doing, but went into Caesar’s Palace with $100. The dealers helped me learn Craps. I left that weekend with $2300. Had a blast!

Approximately a year later, I returned on a temporary duty assignment. I was supposed to be there 6 weeks. I blew through my whole checking and savings account, maxed out every credit card I had and was only there a total of 3 weeks. I happened to be there over the 4th of July weekend. We had a cookout planned. I never saw the light of day that whole weekend. Luckily, my roommate noticed my activity. He anonymously spoke to my first sergeant. I was called into his office, where we spent the better part of two hours breaking down what I spent. That’s when reality hit me right in the nuts. We totaled it up to around $12,000. He sent me back to my home station with strict orders to go home and don’t stop. It was about a 9 hour drive. I made it home, and was greeted by my home-unit first sergeant the next morning. We spoke in-depth and he assured me that I wasn’t in any trouble. At no point did I neglect my duties. I was sent home for my own safety.

It took me approximately 7 years to pay off that debt. It was a glorious achievement.

If you’re out there, SrA (insert name here), thank you for noticing and reporting me. I was pissed at the time, but sincerely appreciate your attention and concern now.

My MIL was at a casino in Vegas when there was some kind of altercation that involved a gun. The police told everyone to "get down". While crouching on the floor people were still reaching up to play the slots.

I lost $17.50 at a claw machine in Atlantic City. It was 25c a go. I was 8 years old.
I remember shaking my head and thinking 'Damn. I'd better not ever gamble."
Never did. And never touched a claw machine again.

Had a lady in a nurses uniform walk out the front of the casino. Stop by where I was standing and just blurt out. "I just lost my rent and grocery money." The only thing I could say was "Oh no!"
She then looked at me and asked if I had any money she could borrow. I told her sorry but no.

I dealt in 2 casinos in Australia for a total of around 5 years. So many stories but the worst one would have to be the guy at 5am on Christmas morning who mentioned to the guy next to him that he had to be home by 7am so he could be there when his kids woke up and opened their presents, but was still at the table at 9am.

I saw a guy so glued to a slot machine that he just pissed his pants and kept playing. He was eventually removed by security.

My first time to Vegas I went with a large group of people. One of the boyfriends started off strong at blackjack, at one point he was up $300 from the $25 he had started with.

But then he lost it all, which for me meant he lost $25. That was not how he took it. And for the rest of the time we were there he tried to win the $300 back.

I don't know how much money he lost, but I do know he had drained his checking account and maxed out a credit card

He didn't win back any money.

I live in Australia which most people don’t know has the highest rate of gambling losses per capita when compared globally. You can gamble at any pub/bar in Australia as long as you are 18 or older. In one state alone in the last 3 months of 2024, the total losses were $2.2B. It’s very hard to watch but hard to fix as it’s legal and socially acceptable. At least when you go to Vegas it’s a trip with friends and/or family and people are having fun. No one is really having fun here, they’re like robots on the slot machines. I have regularly seen people blow through a whole paycheque in minutes and then try to borrow money to win it back. Or get pay day loans with insane interest rates. It’s a big problem here, but there’s too much money involved for anyone to change anything.

I was a hostess at a casino about 10 years ago. I worked on the top floor and normally watched people on the roulette tables below between orders. I saw a guy turn 50k into 250k, he was awesome tipped us all and left.

I carried on with my shift went for my lunch at about 1am then went to the smoking area to find the same guy that had won with his head in his hands. He ask me for a cigarette so I gave him one, I noticed he was crying. He proceeded to tell me how he went for some drinks came back and lost it all and more. It was a regular thing seeing people crying in the smoking area,but this guy really f****d up.

Edit: my grammer sucks.

I fix/repair Pokie Machines in Australia, mostly in small rural towns and the turnover figures on the machines are astonishing. One of the Pubs has a lady that drops 40-50K a week and all the pub has to do is ask her if she's okay? Would she like a cup of tea? People get so mad when they lose on these machines that they smash the screens or play button assemblies. Absolutely bonkers and completely government endorsed.

Not a casino employee, but we got a call at work one night for a check the well-being. It was casino security requesting us to check on subject who had lost a lot of money at their tables. The security manager advised the the subject left and was heard making a comment about wanting to end their life due to their losses.

Thankfully, I got to the address and was able to speak with subject. They were embarrassed but eventually told me that they had a gambling problem and that this wasn't the first time. They ended up getting transported to the hospital and then eventually spoke with one of our social workers, who was able to get her in therapy.

Last I saw them, they had got out of debt and started her own business.

Worked at a casino for a few years in my early 20s doing FoH executive/high level player engagement.

There was a woman in her 70s who played big but always made SOME money back. Well, she finally hit for around $1m USD and promptly told the casino she would no longer be gambling or visiting. She was steadfast in that promise.

Fast forward a year, and the casino wants their money back. They invite her down with all of the comps for her birthday - "Okay, but I'm still not gambling". We extended the invitation and gave villas/free everything to EVERY gambling aged family member she had. It was probably 15+ people there to "celebrate her birthday".

By the end of the week, the family members gambled nearly $700k of her money back into the casino.

I worked at the member rewards desk and a high-ish ranking member asked me to change her mailing address so we can still send her promotions... to the address of a local homeless shelter.

Had a guy sit down at a $15 table and turn $200 into ~$13k in about 30 min. He kept pressing and kept winning. Before long he had a small crowd and full barrel of $500 chips and was working on a second.
I finished the shoe and told him that he beat the casino and it was time to run away and never come back.
Instead of walking he starts playing 3 hands at $1.5k each… three table losses in a row and he’d given it all back and started making trips to the ATM…
Next thing you know, he was down about $2.5k and sobbing to the pit boss because he’d spent everything he had and couldn’t get out of the parking garage.
He was given a parking voucher and put himself on the banned list.
Felt sick for the guy.

Also watched a few jackpots get zeroed out for child support but those always got a laugh from the table.

I'm a high limits baccarat dealer and i have many many regulars i see every single day. There's one lady who plays 3-4k a hand and gets so far down that when she hits for a bonus and makes 150k she barely cares because it doesn't even put her at even.

Guy started with $300 and could do now wrong. When he got up to $5000, we asked if he wanted to go to a high rollers pit because people would jump in on his game and "mess him up." He said yes if I followed him there. In the high rollers pit he again could do no wrong, but what he was doing was chasing and bets he lost with higher bets. This worked out for him for a long time. He got up to almost 100 grand of $300 bucks. He called his girlfriend to get packed, they are going to Vegas to get married. He started losing. I told him to stop when he got to 80 thousand. He told me he just lost 20 grand and if he made it back he would quit. I told him he won 80, stop. By the time the girlfriend got there he lost it all and had $3000 dollars in markers. When she got there he got up and held her and cried.

Worked surveillance at a casino for a bit. Every time someone hit a jackpot at a slot machine we'd pull up their account. They were always, 100% of the time, down on their lifetime earnings. This included people that hit for $50K+


Worst one I saw was -$375k for the year. In July.

I worked at a casino as security for about a year so I have plenty of stories.

But in relation to your question, I saw a guy come in with a group of friends, never seen him before. He proceeded to win 10k that night on a couple slots. I saw him come back every night for the next month. Always walking out with his head down.


The casino I worked at was smallish but every decent payout had to be done with security present. So ya he went through it all thinking he had the system figured out and then some.

Lots of people had similar fates.

A guy that randomly came into the casino I work at played a progressive blackjack side bet and wouldn’t you know it hit for 500k. Dude bought a Rolex and got his girlfriend a pair of b***s. Over the course of the next 1-2 years he was on a slow decline because you can tell he was starting to get into d***s and his bets were getting bigger and bigger.

He disappeared for awhile and heard from coworkers he overdosed and passed away.

Winning that jackpot was probably the worst thing for that guy.