An October 2024 report by USA Today revealed that 450 million adults worldwide engage in “risk gambling.” Simply put, it’s when an individual’s finances, mental health, profession, and personal relationships are severely impacted. Eighty million people suffer from gambling disorders, which, in some cases, take a sinister turn.
These statistics may show the severity of gambling addiction, but the stories you’re about to read paint a grimmer picture of how it affects a person. These accounts are from casino employees, former addicts, and spectators, all of whom took the time to answer a recent Reddit thread.
Most responses are heartbreaking, as they show how menacing a disease addiction can be. Scroll with caution.
#1
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.
Image credits: jasonbourne101
#2
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.
Image credits: epicenter69
#3
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.
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#4
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.
Image credits: nofuqqstogive
#5
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.
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#6
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.
Image credits: Wake_Skadi
#7
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.
Image credits: konoha37
#8
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.
Image credits: doormouse9
#9
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.
Image credits: Superscript88
#10
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.
Image credits: PumpkinsVSfrogs
#11
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.
Image credits: albertenstein22
#12
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.
Image credits: Copewizard
#13
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.
Image credits: CraptainMypants
#14
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.
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#15
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.
Image credits: StickyLicks
#16
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.
Image credits: ftgyhujikolp
#17
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.
Image credits: SadClownWithABigDick
#18
Former a****t five years clean here since 01/01/2020. I once had two doctor’s appointments in the same day (one was for my knee and the other was just a routine check up) but they were spaced out between three hours. Since I wasn’t at work that day, I drove 60 miles to the casino only to lose $700 in that timeframe. I did however make my second appointment so that was a plus.
Image credits: Hopingfornormalagain
#19
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.
Image credits: joshua9050
#20
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.
Image credits: Chrono88lol
#21
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.
Image credits: leaguesplayer54
#22
I live in NV so there’s casinos and slot machines literally everywhere. I was walking to a restaurant inside this casino near my place when I saw this guy crying at the slots, like full on wailing, pounding at the machine begging for his money back. Threw himself on the floor yelling a woman’s name, security had to drag him out of there. It wasn’t even funny, just really sad. I lost my appetite and left shortly afterwards.
#23
I have a friend who once made it big and made $50k in an evening.
When I went gambling with him he lost $10k, and this was a regular thing. Always chasing the dragon.
The only gamble I made that night was the questionable grilled cheese they made me.
#24
I know a guy, a friend of a friend, that has an awful gambling problem that cost him his marriage. Prior to that years ago we were both invited to the common friend’s bachelor party in Atlantic City. He had s**t credit back then and was strictly a cash and carry guy. He brought $2000 cash with him to cover his half of the room he was splitting, meals and drinks, and gambling. We were walking through the casino to check in and he peeled off from the group. He showed up at the check in desk and said “I just lost all my money on roulette. Can you guys cover me for the weekend?” Apparently he had a “feeling” while walking past a roulette table and threw all his money on red and lost. We were 3 hours from home and faced with supporting this leech for 2 days. The guys who knew him well had seen s**t like this from him before and basically told him he’d get basic food and a place to sleep. No steaks, no booze, and most importantly, no gambling money. He was so pissed off that he called his dad and made him drive to Atlantic City to pick him up.
#25
I worked in the cage at the time, guy came up and withdrew 10k from his checking and went out and played. Came back 30 minutes later and did it again. Another 30 minutes and did it again. Came back a fourth time and then started doing cash advances against his credit cards. Goes through all of them over the next 5-6 hours. Right before my shift ends he’s at my window going through every card in is wallet, all of them are declining and he asks if we offer credit. Which thank god we didn’t. All together he probably lost a bit more than 120k in a night. Not the most I’ve seen but he clearly couldn’t afford to lose that much.
Image credits: Goddamnpassword
#26
Ive seen big losses to about 100k, but the one that sticked out to me the most was a guy who started betting 50 a hand on blackjack, lost, came back and put up another 200-500 a hand while he is shaking. He went to the atm 3 times. The last 500 he lost, as I was about to grab the chip, he held his 500 in green in the bet. I had to tell him to let go. I think he was down 10,000 that night and looks like his life saving. Never saw him again after. .
Image credits: 95regenrator
#27
Worked in a casino for nearly 10years. What do you deem a bad loss? I dealt to a wealthy Chinese guy. He lost 12 million barely a dint in his account. Dealt to a lady who lost a 1000 bucks and it was pretty much her whole bank account but she didn't seem fussed. There's always a few that stick out though, a guy was winning about 9 million at the end of my shift. I went home and came back, when I got back he had lost all of it plus another 15 million and was transferring more when I got there as his lucky dealer. I was in fact no longer lucky.
Image credits: Middle_Pear986
#28
Worked in the industry for twenty years. The worse addiction I saw was a woman, probably in her late thirties who sold a boat she didn’t own, twice, to two different people.
This same person also was in charge of a Girl Scout fund for a trip that was planned. When the time came there was no money in the fund.
Image credits: DecentTaco
#29
Oh here goes:
So Indian casinos were sort of a new thing back in the mid 1990’s. Not any locals knew the rules of gambling so they were like Babes in the Woods.
Well one busy Saturday night some wannabe local redneck hotshot rolled in with his wife in his big fancy pickup, and all their friends, and had a pretty good evening. They won a couple grand on the newbie blackjack tables. House DGAF because the whole batch spent like $5000 on food and booze.
Next weekend—Same batch rolls in and because they’re all s****y bombed drunk, they must’ve blown $25,000 —possibly each.
They all got their spanking, lessons learned, and never came back. Worst hangover ever waking up that you just threw away $25,000 in 1995 dollars…except the wife.
The wife of Mayor McCheese started showing up nearly every night. At first, she’d just get sloppy, lose a bunch of money at blackjack. But after time, all the fancy rings started to disappear one by one leaving a tan line. Then her expensive diamond/emerald earrings vanished. Her big expensive necklaces went too. Right before the end, her wedding band was gone. She had pawned every pawned off every bit of everything like a single stupid blackjack was somehow going to lead her to riches, which she already had before she ruined her life.
About two weeks after that, she lost her a*s at the tables again, and went up to the ATM to get more cash. The ATM seized her credit card and she collapsed in a sobbing screaming heap. She had pawned every piece of jewelry she owned, wrecked her marriage, maxed out all of her credit cards, and was bankrupt. The casino? Security dragged her a*s outside to her car, where tribal cops were sitting waiting to pull her back out for trying to start a car like shitface drunk.
The definition of White Trash is Finacilly, Morally and Intellectually bankrupt.
Don’t gamble, kids. .
#30
I'm not a casino worker however I worked at a gas station that sold scratch tickets.
I was doing a 3-11pm shift on a Friday and about 9:00 pm this guy comes In all hyped up that he got paid and wanted to buy some 10 dollar scratchers. Not a problem I say and go to grab 5 of the 10$ tickets he asked for. He stops me before I can get them out and says "No, I want to pick I have a system with the numbers", Cue my eye roll and exasperated internal sigh as these guys take forever.
5 minutes later he is rung up and heads not out of the store, no, no. To the ticket stand at the back to scratch them. He comes back 10 minutes later wants me to check them for him, so I do, I can't recall if he won anything or not on these five. But if he did it wasn't enough. He goes for round two of the same thing 5 more 10 dollar tickets same hyped up energy same process of picking and scratching.
This continues for an hour and a half all the while he is getting more and more anxious and as his hype was replaced with this deranged fear. The process became faster as he started panicking and picking faster and faster as he spiraled down a pit and I was talking to him telling him that it's okay to stop and no one is guaranteed to win and there is no system after the second round to deaf ears.
In total he bought all our 10 dollar scratchers but 1 lost and lost about 600$, I got to listen to him call his girlfriend and explain he lost the rent money and hear her yell at him knowing exactly what happened. I got to listen to him call his boss legit crying asking for help. It was sad any time I feel like gambling I think of that guy and I make another choice. S**t ruins lives for people who can't control it.
#31
My wife works for a casino.
One of their high rollers is known for losing obscene amounts of money.
So far, due to all his losses, the casino has gifted him a brand new Bentley Continental, a 71 Hemi Cuda that had been meticulously restored, two different Escalades (including a brand new Blackwing last year), and a Lucid Air.
He loses a *LOT* of money to that casino in order for them to buy him cars like that. And there are others who get the same treatment.
#32
Worked in a casino restaurant in my 20s. I’d finish my shift walk through the casino to my car. When walking back through in the morning I’d see the same people wearing the same clothes on the same machines. Only difference it’s coffee with their cigarettes now instead of soda.
Image credits: Dismal_Vanilla_5819
#33
I was a slot attendant the person who pay out jackpots to players a man told me he couldn’t go home because he spent his mortgage money there and his wife will k**l him.
Image credits: Mini_M3ka
#34
"Friend" of mine lost around 1m PLN (~$246k). In ONE poker game. He gambled his house, literally he brought his notarial papers.
Image credits: TheTanadu
#35
I worked as a dealer years ago in California. One night a guy came in with $800 to high limit, and started betting $100 a hand on blackjack. He was pressing hard and was up $250,000 in a few hours. He truly believed it was divine intervention and he was invincible, he got greedy, and lost everything back. He left down $800 after about 8 hours.
#36
Not a casino worker, I did watch an elderly man get frustrated at the blackjack table, bet several hundred on one last hand, lose, then get up and punch himself in the face while yelling F**k over and over.
I was horrified,my friend was horrified, the dealer sighed and said "he does that" 🤷♂️.
#37
As a card dealer, on two separate occasions - with two separate players - I took $100,000 each within a couple hours.
Image credits: Petal_Phile
#38
Not a casino worker, and not one that I witnessed personally, however I used to work for an online/phone sports betting company.
One guy was betting on a big soccer game. His team were winning convincingly (3-0) with 80 minutes out of 90 played. He’d just sold his house and had the cash sitting in his account (a couple of hundred grand). The odds were pretty poor, but he saw an opportunity to gain a few more quid, it was a sure thing, right? Except the opposing team scored 4 goals in the last 10 mins plus injury time and won 3-4.
Image credits: NotoriousREV
#39
I know someone who won 30k gambling. Went to a car dealership to buy a car. He was like 5k short of the car he wanted. Told them he would be back and then Proceeded to lose all the 30k.
#40
This question was asked before.
Suicide i guess is thing at casinos. The go in with a plan to kill themselves, gamble all their money away and end it in their room.
#41
Worked in Finance at a Casino. We had access to everyone's lifetime win (it's always called win) and I ran a query one day to sort players with over $100,000 in life time winnings and it was 300 or so players, mostly blackjack and baccarat players. Did it for people with over $100,000 in life time losses. Over 4,000.
So casinos budget based on theoretical win (theo for short) and it's an estimate of how much a player will lose on every trip. It's insanely accurate. Like by 10 trips we have a pretty good idea of what type of player you are and will market to you accordingly to bump you to that next level. Oh you lose on average $350 a trip, I bet free meals will get you to $500. And it does. Those players cards? They track everything. So we know that you spend $350 a trip but you get comped $200, leaving a profit of only $150 a trip...well that's going to drop your comps down a level so your expenses drop. Daily reports would come out with people who's expenses >= Average Daily Theo.
Casinos, if you can handle the guilt, are a great place if you love analytics. I miss it that portion of it but I have a conscience and explicitly marketing to fresh off the boat Asians left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I left after less than a year. I saw people lose $10m a year and this was a local regional casino in Upstate NY.
#42
I used to work at a bank. One day, a regular customer came in and robbed the bank with a note. The teller (who knew him and had greeted him by name) thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. After he left and the police were there, they checked his transaction history and saw that he was regularly overdrawn by charges from a local casino. Police went to the casino and arrested him there.
According to the security training we received every year, gambling is the second most common reason for people to rob banks.
#43
Well I have 16 years in the casino business. I was a dealer for about 3 years and a pit boss for 9.
The saddest thing I had witnessed happened over time. There was a genuinely very nice couple that came in and played Let it Ride. The game is atrocious odds-wise, utterly boring, and I was always miserable dealing it. The woman was in her early 50s, quite overweight, and wheelchair bound and the husband was very thin and mousey. The husband was always the one to play, and the wife would sit behind him. They didn't even bet heavily, but they were there 7 days a week for hours and hours a day, weeks in a row. As time went on they stopped being as nice, to the staff and to each other. They were both obviously not taking care of themselves as they had been...hygenically speaking. Eventually one night, the husband turned around to ask the wife for more money and she absolutely broke down in a shaking, sobbing fit. Just uncontrollably, inconsolable. He was pretty demanding and she was slow handing over the last couple of 20s out of her purse and she said - "Tom this is it....if you lose this we won't eat this month."
I absolutely refused to take the money, called my supervisor over and explained the situation, and thankfully, unlike a lot of joints, they backed that decision up.
That was very early on in my career and it really hit me hard that I had taken 10s of thousands of dollars from those people. If I remember right we evicted them lifetime and connected them with the state problem gambling service.
When I was a pit boss, watching a table in high limit I saw a guy buy in for 5,000 and run it up to about 250,000 by the time I went home. Badass run. So I come back in the next day at 5pm and the guy is still there. Not surprising. The guy has about 125k in chips in front of him so I say oh man Dave took a bit of a thumping while I was sleeping. The pit boss I was relieving was standing off to the side making the *STOP TALKING* gesture so I chuckled and went over to get him relieved. Turns out the guy had given it all back....and was in 350,000 more. Oof.
Probably the craziest thing I had seen in all of those years was a guy, again in high limit (I was there all the damn time once I was a pit boss) who got beat up all night. Just hours of just getting thumped, after a particularly nasty beat on some splits and double downs he said "I lose one more hand I'm s******g on the floor." I informed him that would be a super bad idea and went over to call surveillance and security. It was right at the end of a shoe so this I'm calling while the dealer is shuffling.
Security is up there close, but not too close. Surveillance is watching. First hand out of the shoe dealer 10...peaks ...rolls over the ace.
Quicker than I could blink the dude has his pants down grunting. Gaming commission and security were none to happy arresting the guy...but I was entertained.
#44
I used to be a "Game Tech" We were glorified helpdesk IT for the machines and we also paid out people's jackpots. It was a small indian casino in rural OK. We would have a guy from Wichita who'd come down and fill our $25 machines with $100 bills and play $75/bet and we'd have to clean 60k out of the cash cassette more than once per night. He would pay random casino guests to run to the convenience store and get stuff for them, then tip them $100 even though they weren't employees. Allegedly dude was DEEP into some real-estate, supposed to be the youngest person to ever get their realtor license in Kansas, and he was old AF.
