The chance of walking into a casino as Joe or Jane Average and walkout Mr or Ms Millionaire is what keeps us going back. It’s a crazy world, filled with the possibility that you will suddenly getting your hands on vast amounts of money.
So whether you prefer beating the dealer to Blackjack at luxurious land-based casinos, or you enjoy the convenience of Gaming Club Casino app and the rest of the world offer, you’re in with a chance. These men threw caution to the wind and decided to take the bull by the horns. They weren’t waiting around for Lady Luck!
The Motorcycle Bandit
The Bellagio in Las Vegas lost its Christmas cheer back in 2010 after a man in black roared up to the casino on a black motorcycle. He raced into the world-famous gambling den, drew a gun, collected US$1.5 million worth of chips, and raced right back out. He zoomed off into the desert never to be seen again. It’s a pretty good story, but gets 100X better when you take into account the fact that he did the exact same thing less than a week earlier!
Mr Casino, AKA Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor was so successful with his scams that he’s become known as Mr Casino. He focussed his criminality on the Craps table, setting up intricate networks of cheats and crooked dealers who ignored the rules being bent. These little breaches turned into hauls of US$70 000 from just two of the casinos he hit, and Mr Casino is now banned from almost every gambling venue in existence. He’s also spending the rest of his life in prison after his rule-breaking buddies turned on him and gave the testimony that put him away.
Roberto Solis is Still at Large
Roberto Solis killed a man in 1969 while robbing an armoured car, and spent the next 20+ years in prison. When he eventually got out he adopted a new name, Julius Suave, and got himself a girlfriend, Heather Tallchief, almost 30 years his junior. Tallchief got a job driving an armoured car, and one day simply drove away with more than US$3 million, money which belonged to the Circus Circus Hotel & Resort. She and Suave donned disguises and skipped town, and although Tallchief lost her nerve, turning herself in in 2005, Suave is still on the lam.
The Stardust Heist
Bill Brennan was the archetypal wolf in sheep’s clothing, a totally unremarkable Stardust Casino cashier. His blandness was a very effective tool in taking down the house, however.
He used nothing more than the fact that no one ever noticed him, a roomy backpack, and a totally legal lunch break to make off with US$500 000. He’s never been busted, which makes his crime one of the biggest ever casino robberies to end without a prosecution. While there are speculations that Brennan was murdered by a possible partner in crime, this may just be a desperate attempt to explain how a young man simply strolled past heavily armed guards with hundreds of thousands of dollars stuffed into a satchel before disappearing forever.