Louis Theroux s01e04 Episode Script
Gambling in Las Vegas
All right, play ball.
Here we go.
17.
You got it.
That's a big win.
That's a big win, that's probably 35, 40,000.
Now, you're up 50 grand.
Why not stop now, and then you're 50,000 up? Not yet.
Gamblers never stop.
I was in America's fastest-growing city, taking a look at the pastime that made it famous.
Las Vegas - where the neon-lit mega-casinos are dedicated to taking your money while keeping a smile on your face.
I was here to find out how they do it, and so I'd be immersing myself among the high rollers at one of the city's top casinos - the Las Vegas Hilton.
It had been home to Elvis in the '70s.
For this weekend only, it would be home to me.
So, what's going on? We're gonna pick up one of my guys at the private terminal right now.
He's coming in on his jet, he just called me, 15 minutes and he's landing, so we've gotta get there.
I was with Richard Wilk, the man in charge of bringing the biggest gamblers into the casino, and making sure they keep gambling.
We were on our way to meet one of his high rollers.
What can you tell me about this guy who is coming in? This guy that's coming in is, um one of my closest friends, from Toronto, Canada.
We used to say he's the Mattress King, because he has the largest manufacturing plant for mattresses in all of Canada.
- This guy is a friend of yours.
- Yeah.
He's a friend of mine, he's a high roller, - one of the biggest high rollers.
- Is he? And he's also godfather to my little girl, too.
So it's the whole thing.
So, anything to know before he comes out? I don't want to, kind of, you know, say anything Listen, he's gonna bust your chops, he's going to bust my chops, he's going to ride us the whole way, he's going to joke around with us all the time, that's just him.
Yeah.
And just take it! But remember who he is, too, so respect him at the same time as you take it.
What is his credit line? It's a lot of money! I'm under confidentiality, so I don't talk about my guys' credit lines and how much, but it's a lot of money.
You can't wait to get on the phone? - Hey, buddy.
You all right? - Yeah.
You get in OK? - Say hi to Louis.
- All right, Louis.
- Nice to meet you.
- He's from the BBC in the UK.
So, what's going on, bud? Nice to see you - ready for a good time? - Let's do it.
Sure you wanna do it? - Let's do it.
- You sure? - Yeah.
As a top gambler, Alan qualified to stay in the hotel's best suite free of charge.
This is home for three days.
Rich! Surprise! - What's happening? - Surprise! All right, we need some water, buddy.
This is yours.
- Rich, say hi to Louis.
- How do you do? - This is Rich, our butler.
- Hi, Louis.
He's the best in Las Vegas.
You cannot get better than him in Las Vegas.
- Really? - Yes.
- What do you think, guys? It's OK? - It seems quite nice.
It's about 15,000 square feet.
15,000 square feet? There's houses smaller than that.
- Most! - My house IS smaller than that.
And this is all part of the deal? This is providedfree? This is the largest suite in North America.
That I know of, and Alan gets it for as long as he's here, and everything is comped in here.
It's all comped, complimentary.
- What do you think? - What do I think about what? Why didn't they give you the big one? - The big what? - The big room.
They don't have any bigger.
The only problem with this entire room is, in the morning time.
Why? cos it's a long walk to the kitchen! You know, it's so nice.
You sort of think, why would you even leave here and bother gambling? Well, you're not gonna live in the room, are you? Because there's a lot of big-name casinos in Vegas.
What is it that brings you to the Hilton, specifically? This is the nicest suite in Vegas.
You could go anywhere.
I could pretty well go anywhere.
I tend to go where Rich goes.
- Why? - Richard and I are close.
We're good friends.
He'll look after me, not only as a friend, but as a client.
What is it that he does that is special? Rich arranges anything for me.
Anything on the casino floor, private gaming tables And are you friends, or are you business associates? We're friends first.
Business later.
I don't I think we've had one argument in ten years.
And it was something that he had to take his friendship hat off and put his businessman hat on.
Is he rooting for you to win? - 100%.
- He works for the casino.
He works for the casino, but I don't think he likes to see anybody get hurt.
He likes to see people gamble what they can afford.
Vegas They didn't build these places on winners, you know.
Um100%.
As I said, I think in a lifetime, everybody is a loser.
But the thrill of being able to win today, lose next month, win the year after, I think it's the challenge, the thrill.
It's the entertainment in the city.
- Are you winning? - Oh, no, not at all.
- Negative 20 for the trip.
- $20? - No.
20,000.
- Whoa! - Are you winning? - Ha! Are you winning? Yeah.
- Are you? - Yes.
Down on the casino floor, the weekend crowds are already trying their luck.
I thought I'd drink in the atmosphere, and learn a little about how it all works.
What d'you do here, Jimmy? I'm the shift manager, I run the casino at night.
So, everything you see, I'm in charge of.
All the people, all the players, I try to make sure everybody's having fun.
This is what So far, this is the cash that I have won.
Are you up since you got here? - By? - Probably about 4,000 or 5,000.
Jimmy, he's winning and winning.
We want people to win, that way they'll come back.
If they never win, they would never come back.
And they come back, and then what happens? We want them to win a little, then we take all their money.
- You must be Tommy.
- Yes, I am.
I'm Louis, how do you do? Hi, Louis, how are you doing? Pleasure to meet you.
You, too.
Are you gonna show me the slots? Sure.
Tommy Brown looks after high-limit slots players.
He offered to introduce me to another gambler the casino makes a big fuss over - a retired doctor named Martha Ogman.
Dr Ogman is probably our number one guest that comes to this hotel.
- A beautiful woman.
- How d'you do? - My name is Louis.
- Louis, what you do? I guess I'm a journalist, a TV journalist, I make documentaries.
Oh, that's very nice.
Tommy, is Martha a good client for you? You look after her? Martha is probably our number one guest that comes to this hotel.
This is my second home.
- Do you live in Vegas? - Yes.
- How often you come here? - Every day.
- Every day.
- For ten years.
That could get expensive, couldn't it? It gets expensive, and sometimes I make money.
And would Martha qualify for complimentary items? Yes.
About anything that she asks for.
- John, what do I do? Just hit it? - All the deuces, that's all.
Martha, you know, his name is not John, it's Tommy.
Tommy, I know.
Tom, what do I do? - All the queens.
- That's it? Yeah.
That's it, honey, that's all you do.
I'll give you an example of what we do as customer service.
Martha's husband passed away - when did Sam pass? April 21 st.
He passed away in April.
We had a memorial service here in our hotel.
Unbelievable.
That's because she's so valued to us, we value her.
We won't do that for everybody, but such a fine player that she is It was the most beautiful thing you ever saw in your life.
It was so elaborate, so beautiful.
It didn't cost me one penny.
The casino is running a business, obviously, so, umthere must be something in it for them, I imagine you're losing enough that they feel it's worthwhile That's exactly So, in a sense, it's not totally disinterested hospitality.
Remember I said it's based on your plays.
Yes.
We will give them a percentage of complimentary items, let's put it that way, based on their play.
They treat me so nicely that I wouldn't want to go anywhere else.
Thank you very much, Martha, I really appreciate it.
My pleasure.
Have you ever thought, "That person is spending too much"? "I'll look after their interests, "because I'm worried they might be spending too much?" That is part of our job as well.
Or an elderly player, who maybe you're thinking, perhaps they are not totally compos mentis, and how would you ascertain that they weren't making an informed choice to do what they were doing? That's up to them, I can't tell them what to choose to do.
And I don't know everybody's finances, so I can't really go in, but there are guests that I've known for quite a while, and let's say that they normally come in and they bring $2,000 or $3,000 with them, and then, all of a sudden, they are losing $10,000, or $15,000, or $20,000, that's a flag to me, and a lot of times, I will go up to them and ask them, "Are you sure that you can do this? "I don't want you losing your house, I don't want you doing that.
"I want you to have a good time.
" This is a place of enjoyment.
We want people to have fun, have a good time, we don't want you to lose your house.
It does happen, but we try to avoid that.
- Do you wanna spin it? - No, no, no, no, no.
- No, no, no! - Go ahead! What if it loses? I wanna see you do it.
Hit it.
- Ready? Just press it? - Yeah.
Come on, baby.
That's all right.
- Sorry, that's not very big.
- No, that's fine.
The guests were still rolling up, and I was about to call it a night when I met John and Tim, a pair of salesmen who were in Vegas for a three-day blitz.
They seemed to be betting closer to my level, and I wondered if they'd be good mentors for my gambling the next day.
How's it going? Well, I'm up I've been here for a couple of hours, hit the tables not so long ago, I'm up about 10 Gs.
- 10,000? - 10,000.
Is it all in your pocket? Oh, God I love this casino.
Wow! How much did you? What have you been playing? - Blackjack is my game.
- Blackjack? Yeah, blackjack is my game.
- Really? - Mm-hm.
But the odds are stacked against the player, the odds are in favour of the house, no? No, not really.
My whole philosophy on Blackjack is probably your best chances of winning.
Versus the machines.
But if you're on a good streak, you want to bet heavy.
Are you quite a serious gambler as well? Not serious, I just go and have fun, and that's usually how you win.
This gentleman here is down 160,000 for a reason.
I try to play as consistent - that's why he's laughing - I try to play as consistent as possible.
Are you really 160,000 in the hole? - No, he's! - How much? I'm not in the hole at all.
- I just watched him play.
- What are you really? Really, I played a little bit, maybe up a thousand right now.
But I haven't even started.
I haven't really unpacked my bags yet.
- I'm talking about for the year.
- Oh.
- This year, I've been winning.
- What about last year? What's the worst? In a bad year, if I lost, maybe 50,000-60,000, then I would feel that It's hard, because sometimes you'll lose like 10 grand, but then, you will win 10 or 15 the next time, so Will you do any gambling tonight? Absolutely.
Oh, yeah.
Isn't that why people come to Vegas? Just bring what you can afford.
I brought 15,000 with me.
If I win, I win, if I lose, I lose.
I still have the house.
Let's go, tables await! - cashier awaits.
- And then the tables await.
The next morning, and Alan the high roller was ready to roll.
With a weekend of gambling ahead of him, Alan had decided to limber up with a few turns at the roulette wheel.
For me, it would be a chance to observe a big player close-up, and maybe pick up a few tips for my own gambling later in the day.
You're gonna see a lot of chips go down.
14, 17, 20 Down the middle! Just out of it.
Did you see that? - That was about $4,000.
- That was 4,000, exactly.
Gone.
It landed in my 20, and then it bounced over.
We don't like those.
Each chip was worth $ 100, and with between 40 and 60 on the table, he was risking around $5,000 a spin.
It's all about gambling, isn't it? Is there any technique to where you are putting them? - Are you basing it on a hunch? - No.
You're just picking what you feel.
He's just got to co-operate.
He's not co-operating.
- That's bad.
- Yeah, it is bad.
It's just warm up.
It's 11.
13.
But at least we're having a good time.
Well, you know, we don't like to lose money either.
We're here to enjoy ourselves.
Yeah, but they should tease you a little.
Have you been doing this for a while, have you been into? - Gambling? - Yeah.
I've been gambling since I was 16.
Really? How does your family feel about the gambling? - My wife is against gambling.
- Is she? But she knows what you're doing? Oh, she knows.
- She doesn't like it.
- Really? Why not? It's not a good habit.
It's not a good habit, but she You know, like most spouses, they don't know what your financial status really is.
Which is one of those things.
Come on! - You're in there for something.
- Yeah.
What does she say? She says, "Don't do it"? She doesn't approve of it.
She won't say, "Don't do it," but she won't come to a casino.
Which I can understand, but I'm not gonna change.
Why is it a bad habit? Well, I enjoy it.
So, there's I guess in the back of her mind, there's a risk factor, that, one day, things don't work out.
And you lose a lot of money.
Which is a possibility.
Right now, this is more money than some people make in a year.
It's a lot of money.
You know what they say - if you can't afford it, don't do it.
It's 17 I got it.
Now, you're into some serious money.
Now, you're up 50 grand.
Why not stop now, and then you are 50,000 up? Would I fly for six hours to play for 20 minutes? If you stopped now, would they kick you out of your suite? No, no.
They would never do that, because they know I'm a gambler.
.
.
take as many cards as you like on each one, unless you are splitting aces, then you only get That afternoon, I'd been hoping to make my own first foray on to the tables under the guidance of the two salesmen,John and Tim, but they had gone gambling on the Strip.
It was late in the evening when they finally showed.
How are you doing? You went AWOL.
- Yeah, I did.
- What happened? I don't know, I I've been up since, God, I don't even know.
Let's do a time check.
It's now 24 hours since I last saw you, you've been at the MGM - Right.
- And what happened? Nothing.
I've been gambling ever since.
- Winning? - No, I'm down.
14,000-15,000, plus the 10,000 that I won.
So, you're down 10,000 plus the 14,000? Plus the 14,000.
- So you're down about 25,000? - 20 24,000.
It sucks.
Have you been having a wonderful time? - Why did you do that? - They got the best of me.
It's hard to get off the tables once you're on there.
What about your technique? It went out of the door, they suckered me in.
We don't have to do this.
- No, I want to.
- Are you sure? - Absolutely.
- Why? Because I'm gonna hopefully teach you How to lose? Well, considering I am down, but I'm gonna hopefully teach you how to win.
What about you, is your game plan to win it all back? Maybe you should cut your losses.
I'm not a quitter.
No, I'll get it back.
I know it sounds sick and demented, but I willI will get it back.
I just need one good streak, one good streak, I could I could get it done.
My budget for the night was $500 of my own money.
It feels a bit sick.
I don't like it.
You're gonna like it.
You're gonna like it, and we're gonna win.
We'd be playing blackjack, also known as pontoon, also known as 21.
I was going to ride my 500 as long as I could.
I had a feeling it might be an early night.
- Good luck to you.
- Thank you.
Look, he's trying to act like he's never gambled before.
This guy is just as sick as we are.
Come on.
Big! Nice.
- Here we go.
That's a big hand.
- That's a great hand.
- How much did I make on that? - You made 60 bucks.
- I made $60? - Yes.
I should stop now.
No! Stop?! What are you talking about? You want to up your bet, push it a little more.
If you're on a winning streak, you can't keep betting the same way.
But then I might lose it all.
That's the chance, it's called gambling.
With all due respect.
Gambling is good, huh? Would you double down on that? I wouldn't against a deuce.
I started out with little bets and seemed to be holding my own, but John's winning streak was still a no-show.
This is just unbelievable, unreal.
I haven't won a hand in half an hour.
Oh, 21! It's tiring, man, it's so frustrating.
Big! Big! Big! Oh - That was a bad one.
- It happens.
Big, big! How can that be possible? - I'll be right there.
- Where are you going? - Right here.
- Why? Because I've been losing.
Here we go.
Don't touch the money till he's done paying you.
- He'll get very upset.
- Sorry.
Two hours in, I was $300 down, but Tim had been taking advantage of the free drinks that the casino lays on for all gamblers, and he was feeling confident.
Whoa! Why so much? - cos that's how I do it.
- 400? Big, just hope big.
Yes! Yeah! That's how you do it, man.
You got to understand - that's how you do it, look at this.
- Don't touch anything.
- I'm not touching.
- They'll throw you out.
- I didn't touch them.
Come on, come on.
Oh, come on.
Yeah! Louis! Talk to me! Are you ahead for the night now? I don't care about money.
You're only ahead if you leave the table, and you're winning.
What should I do? Maybe I should stop now, I might have broken even.
You don't stop when you're winning, man! What is wrong with you?! Damn! - Yeah! - There you go.
How much do you think I've got? 100, 200, 300 How much is this, can you tell? I can tell right now.
You've got, like, about 500 right now.
You can split it up in stacks of five.
I'm doing all right.
I'm not doing too badly.
How are you doing? - Forget about me.
- Double down.
That's how we do it.
- Oh! - She shot you the bullet.
Midnight came and went, but John showed no signs of giving up, and he had brought his losing streak back to the table.
Ohhe shot me the bullet.
We had a thing going, me and Louis, and then you jumped in.
can you back out one hand and let us go at it, please? Thank you.
Why are you guys always picking on me, man? I'm not.
I just lost three grand on one hand.
There we go.
Every time I sit on this table, I can't get on no streak at all.
- It's such a jinx.
- Oh, six of clubs, I'm sorry! Don't try that! Don't be negative.
Oh I just lost 100 on that.
But you're up 75 bucks after 19 hours - 9 hours.
How long do we play for? Do we just keep playing until we lose? No, hell, no.
You play till you win.
We WERE winning.
Johnny, how did you do over at the other table? What does it look like? John, play the odds, go after it.
One time, go after it, have some balls.
Look at him, he's scared.
The guy's scared.
With John still doggedly chasing his losses, I thought I'd round off the night with one last big bet.
Oh, Louis! - This is it, Louis.
- The moment.
This is the turning point right here.
Big.
- You took your seven.
- Big! Big! Yes! Yes! - You took the seven.
- Good job, Louis.
That's awesome.
Go to the cage, Lewis.
- I'm gonna go to the cage.
- Lou-ie, Lou-ie Louis, right? - Go to the cage.
- Thank you.
I'd been gambling into the wee hours, and then back into the big hours, and I was $200 up on my original 500.
700, you want everything in big bills? Sure, why not? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 700.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Have a nice day.
- You, too.
- How did you make out? - I didn't make out.
I lost about 4,000.
In that session? Well, yes, in the last four or five hours.
But you know what? It happens.
You've got to be prepared for that.
Next time, maybe I'll win 4,000.
You've got to know your limits.
You go out there, you have fun, you lose a little, but only lose what you can afford to lose.
You don't get crazy like John over there, see him? Look at him.
That's what you don't want to do.
That's an exact picture.
He's a good guy, but he just doesn't know when to leave.
He doesn't know when to leave.
Louis, he won't go.
How are you making out? - Absolutely horrible.
- Are you? Yes.
Very bad.
Big.
Oh, Jesus.
Johnny, Johnny, let's go and get a taco or something.
Come on.
I'm not leaving.
I'm not leaving.
I tried yesterday to get him to go.
I slept for nine hours Big! He'll be here all night, so you guys will be here all night, so I'm gonna get out of here and go to bed.
Are you? I've got to do some work tomorrow.
He'll be here for another 20 hours.
I'm gonna turn in as well.
Yeah, I'm tired.
- Are you gonna stay up all night? - Huh? Tomorrow, he'll still be here.
It's five past five in the morning now.
D'you know that? Er, no, I didn't know that.
So, I'm gonna turn in, are you gonna stay up? - I'm just gonna stay up.
- How long? I don't know, um - I don't know.
- We'll bring you a McMuffin.
- Thank you.
- Egg McMuffin.
What's the room number again? One, two One, two, three The next day and there was no sign of John.
I'd hoped he'd gone home, preferably to a house he still owned.
At the cashier's desk, I ran into Dr Martha Ogman, the big-time slots player, just starting her daily shift.
Will you get 500 out for me as well, Martha? Sure.
You want 500? What are you going to do with it? - Gamble it.
- I don't believe you.
You don't have the nerve.
It wouldn't take any nerve to gamble with your money here.
Oh, yes, it would.
It would.
- Why? - It doesn't make a difference.
Because once I give it to you, it's yours.
Let's go, follow me.
These are no good.
These two are possible.
- I'll play this one, then.
- OK.
Now is there any skill involved? - Any what? - Skill.
No.
You just have to gamble.
That's all.
That's how you play.
You always bet how much you want.
- Something happened.
- You got $20.
cash it out.
- Shall I cash out now? - Sure.
- Why? - You made $20.
You're not a gambler.
Hit it once more.
cash out.
You're not going to make any more.
- Why? - You've got $34 back.
I'm not going to make any more? Maybe you will.
Do you want to take a chance? Take it.
- It's not giving me anything.
- I told you to cash out.
It shows that you can become a gambler, because you never quit when you're supposed to quit.
It's so aggravating, isn't it? No, it's not.
Do you ever worry that you might be addicted? I can always quit.
I have never got addicted to anything in my life.
How do you know you could quit? Because I can just say I'm not coming in here any more and that's the end of it.
Have you thought of doing that? No, I enjoy it too much.
Why would I do that? And you can afford the habit? I lost $4 million in the casino in seven years.
$4 million.
$4 million? That seems like a lot.
That's a lot of money, yes.
But I enjoyed every moment of it.
Aren't you going to run out of money? No.
Why would I run out of money? Hi! She's guilty, take her picture! - How are you doing? - Hi, how are you? - Louis from the BBc.
- Hi.
Martha's one of your best customers.
She is.
She's not only one of our best customers, she's one of the nicest ladies I've ever known.
- Really? - Yes, yes.
Martha just said that, in seven years, she's gambled and lost $4 million.
- Yeah.
- She knows.
I'm not lying.
Oh, yeah.
Martha's one of our biggest players.
- $4 million? - $4 million.
Yes.
Because we have it on the computers.
If you ever thought Martha was gambling too much, would you have a word with her? I feel that I'm friendly enough with Martha that I can tell her, "cool it for a while.
" I really do.
And she wouldn't listen.
Have you ever what would lead you to say that? Um Gosh.
If she would go over and above what she normally would play.
I feel close enough to Martha, and I've known her I've been in here almost two years and I've gotten very close with her.
And I consider her a really good friend.
And I just feel if I really thought she was going way overboard, I would say, you know, "cool it.
" Look at his face! - Are you a multi-multimillionaire? - No.
Hey, I hit it! That's $100.
See.
- Are you winning? - No.
- Losing? - Losing.
Seriously? That's the way the hotel expects it to be.
- Are you winning? - No.
- Are you winning? - We are from Italy.
Later that morning, I went to find Alan the high roller.
He was now into his second day gambling, and from what I'd heard, losing heavily.
I wondered whether it was affecting his mood.
How are you doing? Morning, buddy.
What's happening? It's good.
How is it? Have you been lucky? Not bad.
Up and down.
I heard you were on the slots and you went down by 70 or 80,000.
- It was a bad day at slots.
- It was that bad? Yes.
Who's counting? You're counting? I'm just telling you what I heard.
You heard that? Yeah.
Yes, that was bad, that was bad.
What happened? Since then? Input, output.
A lot of input and no output.
- And now? - The odds weren't there.
- And now? - We're just starting off.
We're just going to have a little fun here.
We got action going on here, buddy.
- What do you mean? - A bit of action going on here.
A lot of money going on the table.
Big! Yes! Whoa! Look what happened, we made about 20,000 bucks.
These are $1,000 chips.
- Oh, yeah.
- These yellow ones.
And these purple ones are 500, but these are thousands.
- Not a lot of money.
- 15,000? No! 30, 40, 50.
It's about 60, 70.
Ready now? - Let's go, let's play ball, buddy.
- A big one! Oy, that was bad, that was bad.
- That was a bad one.
- That was bad.
I gave him back, uh - What you got there? 10 grand? - 8,000.
8,000? Look at you, superstar.
Say hi to Alex, our director of credit.
How are you, sir? He's the one that got you more credit.
More credit, more credit! - You better not need more.
- One more day.
Say hi to Louis.
- How do you do? - From the BBC? What are you doing? - What am I doing? - Right now.
What am I doing? I'm just waiting for Rich to give me back an answer.
About He's gonna give me a little credit card to go shopping.
Freebies? - Freebies, comps, on the house.
- How much? Probably 4,000 or 5,000.
Where are you gonna be? High limit, but I gotta go, like, in 10 or 15 minutes.
Where? - High limit - Slots? OK, I'll meet you over there.
Yeah, can you just make sure somebody's there? Hey, can I do a Neiman Marcus for 4,000 for Alan? Do you have a problem with that? Yeah.
We kinda do it for him whenever he comes in, yeah.
We always It's always usually a 160 deal.
No, no, I said usually every trip it's around that.
So you'll get up there.
What is it now? You wanna do three? How about three? Let's compromise, I'll do three.
Wow, so you've gotta negotiate.
Don't they calculate based on how much play he's doing? Yeah, anda loyal customer like that at his level, that is very consistent in everything he does when he comes to the property, you know, somebody like him, you see how much he plays.
He's on the tables, slot machines every almost three-quarters of his trip, and when he is, it basically averages out to the same every trip, so he's very easy to predict what to give him, so - Rick, how much was it? - 3,000.
If you thought he was If you ever thought he was gambling too much, what would you do? If he's losing, losing, like yesterday on the slot machine - he put a lot of money in the machine.
We were there for hours.
A lot of guys, they'll let him stay there, but I'll say, "Let's go to dinner!" Listen, it doesn't change anything.
But it just makes him feel a little better and get his mind off it.
He'll still come back and play, it's never gonna change.
It's not gonna change anything, it just makes the customer feel like he can breathe.
That's all.
But you would tap him on the shoulder and pull him out? - I'd never pull him out.
- Why not? Yeah, that's not my job to do that.
I'm not here to pull you out.
I'm here to invite you in and entertain you, and I'll watch your back.
At the same time, you're gambling.
I don't want to interfere with your gambling business.
It's not my business, it's none of my business that way.
As a friend, it could be.
As a friend, you get worried, but you know what? These guys don't do anything you want them to do anyway! They don't listen to you! You can express your opinion, you can suggest something, but they don't care, they don't listen to you.
Come on, they got so much more money than I do.
Who am I to tell them what to do with their money? No, you never tell somebody like that what to do with their money, never.
I only got 3,000.
You only get 3,000, sorry about that.
- 3,000?! - Yeah.
No disrespect, but you wanted it right now, I got it for you, that's all I got.
- When's? - Don't! When's the other five coming? - No, that's it.
- What? For the whole trip? - That's it! - All right, I'll stop gambling.
Hold on, hold on.
Is that a jackpot over there? Hold on, let me see it for a sec.
OK, now I'm checking out One of Alan's machines was costing him $90 a spin, another one $300.
Vacuum cleaners, these are vacuum cleaners at the Hilton.
- Why don't you have a seat? - can I? Well, it's better than looking over it.
Oh! That could have been a lot better, buddy.
What is the appeal of slots? cos there's no skill involved, is there? Zero skill, it's luck and timing.
So what is the appeal? The win, the thrill.
What is the appeal if it's just random? You're just pushing a button, it's like working in a factory.
You're not really You're just hoping that you're the one.
It'sto come to Vegas and have the opportunity of winning.
Do you want me to put more money in? It's quitting time.
I have a meeting, so I'm gonna love you and leave you.
You gotta spin it one more time, cos you would have won there.
But why you didn't win is cos you changed, you were getting rid of your credits.
Didn't, um Didn't you just say it was quitting time? Yeah, we gotta just spin one or two more times, just to make sure that the machine is, erfinished with me.
You never know.
It's a gambler's problem, when to quit.
We all wanna make it rich.
Do you think you might have a problem? Gambling? No.
It's just a sport.
It's like people golf.
You golf? - You don't golf? - No.
5,000.
You look at that like amazed or it's no good? - So you just won $5,000? - Yeah.
3,500 after tax.
You stop now? Yeah.
- We're cutting out of here.
- Thank you.
- Round up with you later? - Yeah, catch up later.
It had been 36 hours since I'd seen daylight, and so I ventured out onto the Strip.
I was making a house call on the Hilton's most dependable gambler - Dr Martha Ogman.
I'd been thinking about the prodigious amounts she'd lost and was curious about her life outside the casino.
I found her at home in a gated community behind the Hilton.
This is yourwonderful home? It's a mess, a total mess.
- This is the living room.
- This is the living room? You see all the boxes? No, so are youare you still moving in here, Martha? - Is that what's going on? - Yes.
I'm still moving in.
Who's the handsome gentleman? That's my son, my delicious child.
- How do you do? - Hello.
- Louis.
- Seth, nice to meet you.
Do you play the slots, too, Seth? - At times, yeah.
- He's not a gambler.
If I want to get rid of him, I give him $20 and he'll get lost for about an hour.
To people in Britain, some of the sums that Martha gambles are quite amazing.
She mentioned a figure of about $4 million in seven years, and I wondered what your take on that was.
Nothing.
What do you think about that, Seth? - Nothing.
- I think it's crazy.
I mean, I'll play some of the quarter machines and nickel machines, but I also go to the sports book, and I'll place a few bets and, er But I don't go crazy, I have a set limit, and I stick to it.
It could be argued that you are gambling Seth's inheritance.
You're right, and whatever's left he can have.
What do you think about that, Seth? - That's all right with me.
- Seriously? Why? She wants to gamble, it makes her happy, that's all right with me.
See that? He's a good kid.
Have you had a conversation with your mother where you said, "Enough, you know, it's getting excessive"? No, no-one tells me what to do.
Have you, Seth? My husband never told me what to do, and neither does my son.
I do what I think is right.
- Have you tried to? - I've tried.
It doesn't work.
She wants to gamble, it makes her happy, so that's OK with me.
- You have tried, though? - Yeah.
- How many times? - Oh, a few.
Many times, and what have you said? I just said, you know, just take a break, come back tomorrow, or let's take a couple of days off, and every once in a while, she will.
I'll take two days off and go back.
Now, can you see the Hilton from here? The Hilton's up here, you can see it.
- You mean the building itself? - Yeah.
Did you know that? Yes, that's the Hilton.
And if, when the time comes, Seth, you come into your inheritance and there's nothing left He's got money.
Well, hopefully she'll win the Megabucks, it's like 11.
5 million.
Seriously, though.
Well, if that's what happens, that's what happens.
- Come on.
- He has money saved.
- No, be real.
- He does! No, but to come into your inheritance and there's nothing left? If there's nothing left, there's nothing left.
- Seth? - Nothing you can do about it.
What can you do? She likes to gamble.
If there's nothing left, there's nothing left.
How come you're so philosophical? I think there's more going on.
It's too hot here to be I always say, when you're gambling at a casino, just take the money and run, cos I've seen people that have That's what you do.
1,200 credits in a machine, a quarter or a dollar machine, and they're still playing.
I say just take the money and run, cos they're gonna get you in the end.
You know, that's how they build these new towers.
Well, there's no telling her.
That's the problem.
With Martha, her gambling seemed less about winning or losing than about filling the days.
I was reassured she seemed to know what she was doing and all the more baffled why she was doing it.
I headed back to the Hilton.
I'd heard that Alan the high roller had been racking up yet more heavy losses and now he was leaving.
Hey, what's happening, buddy? - How are you doing? - OK.
I've been hearing rumours about you.
Wellare they good or bad? 250 in the hole.
Erlisten, I'd be happy with that, I think.
Really? Why? What happened? - It was a little nasty in there.
- What happened? - cards cards change.
- 300,000? - Oh, I don't know.
- 300,000? Pesos? Dollars.
You never know.
- You're never gonna know.
- How much are you down? We're down a little bit.
- Yeah.
- How much? - You're not gonna get it, Louis.
- Why? It's not good for me.
How did he make out, Richard? How did who make out - Alan? You gotta ask him.
To me, what happened, it seemed like he lost a lot of money.
I can't tell, I don't know Alan, but is he OK with that? He's fine.
You see the way he's joking? Yeah, I know, but Whether he loses money or he wins money, his attitude doesn't change, and he'll tell you that.
He's gonna go home, and it's not gonna affect anything.
It's not gonna affect his livelihood or the way he lives or anything like that, so when that happens, he's fine.
It's a guy that comes in and loses and wants to go home and sell stuff to pay us back.
That doesn't happen with him, he's fine, and none of my guys are like that.
He's going home with a heavy loss.
What would you have liked to see? This isn't the ideal outcome for you, or is it? What would be the best outcome for you? Well, just the fact that he comes in is the best outcome for me.
Whether he wins or loses, it doesn't go into my pocket.
I'm just here as a marketing guy to bring him in the building and keep him at the tables as long as I can.
Keep him at the tables as long as you can up to a point, not so that he hurts himself or affects your relationship No, I keep him at the tables for as long asI can.
And that's whether he wins or loses, so it doesn't matter.
My job is to bring certain players in and keep them at the tables and keep them gambling in the property, that's all.
With him and with a few others of my friends, they're friends of mine, more friends than they are players - it just happens I work here, and that's where they visit.
Look at that smile.
That's a million-dollar smile, he can never lose.
Slightly less than a million now.
Listen, you know what you know what makesa good person, a good gambler? Somebody thatwhether win or lose, they're still gonna smile.
It's good, you seem like you're in good spirits, so I'm pleased, you had a good weekend.
You take your good days, your bad days and, er There's no sensegetting sick.
All right, Louis, I'll see you soon, right? - Louis - Thanks, Alan.
Keep up the faith.
Get in there It was my last night, and in true Vegas style, I'd arranged to have a blow-out.
I had $3,000 burning a hole in my pocket.
Would I win? I had a feeling probably not.
But I was ready to join the ranks of the heroic losers who challenge the odds and keep smiling, even when they come up empty.
My guide for the night would be another of Richard's high rollers, an IT consultant called Dan Rodgers, better known in Vegas as Dan the Man.
- Dan the Man! - Louis.
- How are you doing? - Fine.
How are you? - Yeah, good, how are you doing? - Doing really good.
Good, good, good.
- So are you ready? - Yes, I am.
Have you got the spondulicks? - I have the spondulicks.
- Do you? I can't spell it, but I have it.
What do you think about this? What does this? Uh-oh.
What does that say to you? That says you're ready to go.
- What does that say? - It says I'm ready to match you.
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
What have you got there? Oh, just a couple of thousand.
- No, this is five.
- You've got five.
- I've got five.
- I've got three.
- You got three.
- I've got three and I'll raise you ten.
Oh, yeah? Let's go to the safe.
No, this is fine, this is my blow-out.
Shall we have a sharpener before we go out? Sure.
Just to loosen the wrist a bit.
Absolutely.
What shall we do? - You tell me.
- Orange juice? Orange juice with a little vodka.
- What do you think? - Wanna order something? Didn't they put anything in your room? So are you excited about playing? - A little nervous.
- A little nervous? Yeah, yeah.
This is my money, this isn't production money.
Really? This is out of like ATM money? This is my own money, I went to the bank and got it.
Well then, that'll give you a good way to feel the happiness or the sadness.
I will have a Macallan 18 on the rocks and - A Bloody Mary.
- A Bloody Mary.
Just one.
I don't even know if I approve of gambling, Dan.
You don't know if you approve of gambling? Everything we do in life is a gamble, my friend.
- Meaning? - This is entertainment, not gambling.
Las Vegas is all about entertainment.
- Hello! - Hello, sir.
How are you? - How are you doing? - Good, good.
Thank you.
- We do have to do this.
- Yes, we do.
Don't we? Whether we want to or not.
We have to do it.
This is the blow-out.
We have to do it.
- cheers.
- cheers.
Vegas.
To Vegas.
Wanna go down? You've gotta go in with a winning attitude.
How do you do that? You just You think.
- It's possible.
- Shall we do it? Yes, let's do it.
I sort of almost am resigned to losing.
Don't ever resign yourself to losing.
Why? We'd be playing baccarat, a game of pure chance favoured by the high rollers who fly in from Asia, and also at one time by James Bond.
I didn't know the rules, so I'd be leaving the decisions to Dan the Man.
Hey! Thanks, how are you doing, buddy? Good to see you.
How are you doing? Good to see you.
He showed me the cash.
Wow, is that an envelope you have there? Yeah, he got an envelope.
- Look at this, this is real.
- Wow.
That's pretty impressive.
I hoped you'd say that.
I may have to comp you some rooms or something.
I'm getting 12,000, so I look bigger than you.
- $12,000? - Yes.
What I like to do with my first hand is start on the bank.
- Start on the bank? - Yes.
What are you doing? 600? I'm putting $600 on the bank.
- I'll start 300.
- OK.
You're on the bank.
- Six.
- At least a six, right? At least a six.
Right.
So we got a six.
- How about that? - How about that? How do you feel? We're winning.
Richard, how do you feel that we're winning, though? Listen, you win, I see you more.
Remember that, I see you more if you win.
- Now pick that up.
- And we lose eventually.
No, we don't lose eventually.
- No, we don't - No, we don't.
The night started with a win.
Oh, baby! That's what I'm talking about! Oh, yeah! And then another.
Monkey! And then another.
We got monkey! It was as though, because I'd resigned myself to failure, on this night Lady Luck had decided to tantalise me by making me win.
Monkey! A big-hand win! Oh, but an eight beats it all! - Did we win? - We won, natural eight.
One?! One don't beat eight! - Did we win? - Yes.
On other nights, I too would be a loser, but not tonight.
You battered her with that nine! You show her who Louis is! And I found myself slipping into the role of a high roller with surprising ease.
- I'm only up by 1,500.
- Only? After an hour and a half, you won 1,500.
Where do you make 1,500 in an hour and a half? What happened to my Bloody Mary? - It's coming.
- Where are you going? Where am I going? It's all too much for him! "Where are you going?" Like a lost puppy! - Wanna follow me? - Where ARE you going? To the cage to get our money.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten is 4,000 Why don't you gamble? cos I'm smart, I live in this town.
You can go broke gambling in this town.
But look at this.
Listen, I'm so happy I made you happy.
That's the whole point, right? Look, we'll give you a brand-new Hilton envelope to put it all in.
- And you don't even do this.
- No.
- What for? - I like making you happy, how about that? Look at that smile.
- Look at that! - Beautiful.
Where's the catch? There is no catch - welcome to Vegas.
How much is in here? 4,590.
Did you have fun in the gut? Did you have fun down here? Did you forget about everything - the show, your interview - and for one brief second win? I think you did, I think you felt it.
I know you did.
- It was good.
- And you're scared by it.
What was weird was I was resigned to losing it.
I told you not to.
But then I won it.
My high-rolling was done, and for a moment I HAD felt it.
It might be illogical and self-defeating, but when you're winning, gambling makes perfect sense.
The casinos practise a kind of seduction on us, but mostly we are their willing victims.
For this victim, though, it was the end of the line.
For now.
Hi, Martha.
Oh, hi, how are you? - I won $1,500 last night.
- Oh, isn't that nice? - You won that much? - Yeah.
I'm not playing any more.
You quit? Why? I wanna take my money and run, I wanna go home a winner.
You're gonna sit down and you're gonna play again.
And I know you are.
And I'm telling you you are.
Ha, I hit it! Take this, take this - this is a win! That's a win.
Here we go.
17.
You got it.
That's a big win.
That's a big win, that's probably 35, 40,000.
Now, you're up 50 grand.
Why not stop now, and then you're 50,000 up? Not yet.
Gamblers never stop.
I was in America's fastest-growing city, taking a look at the pastime that made it famous.
Las Vegas - where the neon-lit mega-casinos are dedicated to taking your money while keeping a smile on your face.
I was here to find out how they do it, and so I'd be immersing myself among the high rollers at one of the city's top casinos - the Las Vegas Hilton.
It had been home to Elvis in the '70s.
For this weekend only, it would be home to me.
So, what's going on? We're gonna pick up one of my guys at the private terminal right now.
He's coming in on his jet, he just called me, 15 minutes and he's landing, so we've gotta get there.
I was with Richard Wilk, the man in charge of bringing the biggest gamblers into the casino, and making sure they keep gambling.
We were on our way to meet one of his high rollers.
What can you tell me about this guy who is coming in? This guy that's coming in is, um one of my closest friends, from Toronto, Canada.
We used to say he's the Mattress King, because he has the largest manufacturing plant for mattresses in all of Canada.
- This guy is a friend of yours.
- Yeah.
He's a friend of mine, he's a high roller, - one of the biggest high rollers.
- Is he? And he's also godfather to my little girl, too.
So it's the whole thing.
So, anything to know before he comes out? I don't want to, kind of, you know, say anything Listen, he's gonna bust your chops, he's going to bust my chops, he's going to ride us the whole way, he's going to joke around with us all the time, that's just him.
Yeah.
And just take it! But remember who he is, too, so respect him at the same time as you take it.
What is his credit line? It's a lot of money! I'm under confidentiality, so I don't talk about my guys' credit lines and how much, but it's a lot of money.
You can't wait to get on the phone? - Hey, buddy.
You all right? - Yeah.
You get in OK? - Say hi to Louis.
- All right, Louis.
- Nice to meet you.
- He's from the BBC in the UK.
So, what's going on, bud? Nice to see you - ready for a good time? - Let's do it.
Sure you wanna do it? - Let's do it.
- You sure? - Yeah.
As a top gambler, Alan qualified to stay in the hotel's best suite free of charge.
This is home for three days.
Rich! Surprise! - What's happening? - Surprise! All right, we need some water, buddy.
This is yours.
- Rich, say hi to Louis.
- How do you do? - This is Rich, our butler.
- Hi, Louis.
He's the best in Las Vegas.
You cannot get better than him in Las Vegas.
- Really? - Yes.
- What do you think, guys? It's OK? - It seems quite nice.
It's about 15,000 square feet.
15,000 square feet? There's houses smaller than that.
- Most! - My house IS smaller than that.
And this is all part of the deal? This is providedfree? This is the largest suite in North America.
That I know of, and Alan gets it for as long as he's here, and everything is comped in here.
It's all comped, complimentary.
- What do you think? - What do I think about what? Why didn't they give you the big one? - The big what? - The big room.
They don't have any bigger.
The only problem with this entire room is, in the morning time.
Why? cos it's a long walk to the kitchen! You know, it's so nice.
You sort of think, why would you even leave here and bother gambling? Well, you're not gonna live in the room, are you? Because there's a lot of big-name casinos in Vegas.
What is it that brings you to the Hilton, specifically? This is the nicest suite in Vegas.
You could go anywhere.
I could pretty well go anywhere.
I tend to go where Rich goes.
- Why? - Richard and I are close.
We're good friends.
He'll look after me, not only as a friend, but as a client.
What is it that he does that is special? Rich arranges anything for me.
Anything on the casino floor, private gaming tables And are you friends, or are you business associates? We're friends first.
Business later.
I don't I think we've had one argument in ten years.
And it was something that he had to take his friendship hat off and put his businessman hat on.
Is he rooting for you to win? - 100%.
- He works for the casino.
He works for the casino, but I don't think he likes to see anybody get hurt.
He likes to see people gamble what they can afford.
Vegas They didn't build these places on winners, you know.
Um100%.
As I said, I think in a lifetime, everybody is a loser.
But the thrill of being able to win today, lose next month, win the year after, I think it's the challenge, the thrill.
It's the entertainment in the city.
- Are you winning? - Oh, no, not at all.
- Negative 20 for the trip.
- $20? - No.
20,000.
- Whoa! - Are you winning? - Ha! Are you winning? Yeah.
- Are you? - Yes.
Down on the casino floor, the weekend crowds are already trying their luck.
I thought I'd drink in the atmosphere, and learn a little about how it all works.
What d'you do here, Jimmy? I'm the shift manager, I run the casino at night.
So, everything you see, I'm in charge of.
All the people, all the players, I try to make sure everybody's having fun.
This is what So far, this is the cash that I have won.
Are you up since you got here? - By? - Probably about 4,000 or 5,000.
Jimmy, he's winning and winning.
We want people to win, that way they'll come back.
If they never win, they would never come back.
And they come back, and then what happens? We want them to win a little, then we take all their money.
- You must be Tommy.
- Yes, I am.
I'm Louis, how do you do? Hi, Louis, how are you doing? Pleasure to meet you.
You, too.
Are you gonna show me the slots? Sure.
Tommy Brown looks after high-limit slots players.
He offered to introduce me to another gambler the casino makes a big fuss over - a retired doctor named Martha Ogman.
Dr Ogman is probably our number one guest that comes to this hotel.
- A beautiful woman.
- How d'you do? - My name is Louis.
- Louis, what you do? I guess I'm a journalist, a TV journalist, I make documentaries.
Oh, that's very nice.
Tommy, is Martha a good client for you? You look after her? Martha is probably our number one guest that comes to this hotel.
This is my second home.
- Do you live in Vegas? - Yes.
- How often you come here? - Every day.
- Every day.
- For ten years.
That could get expensive, couldn't it? It gets expensive, and sometimes I make money.
And would Martha qualify for complimentary items? Yes.
About anything that she asks for.
- John, what do I do? Just hit it? - All the deuces, that's all.
Martha, you know, his name is not John, it's Tommy.
Tommy, I know.
Tom, what do I do? - All the queens.
- That's it? Yeah.
That's it, honey, that's all you do.
I'll give you an example of what we do as customer service.
Martha's husband passed away - when did Sam pass? April 21 st.
He passed away in April.
We had a memorial service here in our hotel.
Unbelievable.
That's because she's so valued to us, we value her.
We won't do that for everybody, but such a fine player that she is It was the most beautiful thing you ever saw in your life.
It was so elaborate, so beautiful.
It didn't cost me one penny.
The casino is running a business, obviously, so, umthere must be something in it for them, I imagine you're losing enough that they feel it's worthwhile That's exactly So, in a sense, it's not totally disinterested hospitality.
Remember I said it's based on your plays.
Yes.
We will give them a percentage of complimentary items, let's put it that way, based on their play.
They treat me so nicely that I wouldn't want to go anywhere else.
Thank you very much, Martha, I really appreciate it.
My pleasure.
Have you ever thought, "That person is spending too much"? "I'll look after their interests, "because I'm worried they might be spending too much?" That is part of our job as well.
Or an elderly player, who maybe you're thinking, perhaps they are not totally compos mentis, and how would you ascertain that they weren't making an informed choice to do what they were doing? That's up to them, I can't tell them what to choose to do.
And I don't know everybody's finances, so I can't really go in, but there are guests that I've known for quite a while, and let's say that they normally come in and they bring $2,000 or $3,000 with them, and then, all of a sudden, they are losing $10,000, or $15,000, or $20,000, that's a flag to me, and a lot of times, I will go up to them and ask them, "Are you sure that you can do this? "I don't want you losing your house, I don't want you doing that.
"I want you to have a good time.
" This is a place of enjoyment.
We want people to have fun, have a good time, we don't want you to lose your house.
It does happen, but we try to avoid that.
- Do you wanna spin it? - No, no, no, no, no.
- No, no, no! - Go ahead! What if it loses? I wanna see you do it.
Hit it.
- Ready? Just press it? - Yeah.
Come on, baby.
That's all right.
- Sorry, that's not very big.
- No, that's fine.
The guests were still rolling up, and I was about to call it a night when I met John and Tim, a pair of salesmen who were in Vegas for a three-day blitz.
They seemed to be betting closer to my level, and I wondered if they'd be good mentors for my gambling the next day.
How's it going? Well, I'm up I've been here for a couple of hours, hit the tables not so long ago, I'm up about 10 Gs.
- 10,000? - 10,000.
Is it all in your pocket? Oh, God I love this casino.
Wow! How much did you? What have you been playing? - Blackjack is my game.
- Blackjack? Yeah, blackjack is my game.
- Really? - Mm-hm.
But the odds are stacked against the player, the odds are in favour of the house, no? No, not really.
My whole philosophy on Blackjack is probably your best chances of winning.
Versus the machines.
But if you're on a good streak, you want to bet heavy.
Are you quite a serious gambler as well? Not serious, I just go and have fun, and that's usually how you win.
This gentleman here is down 160,000 for a reason.
I try to play as consistent - that's why he's laughing - I try to play as consistent as possible.
Are you really 160,000 in the hole? - No, he's! - How much? I'm not in the hole at all.
- I just watched him play.
- What are you really? Really, I played a little bit, maybe up a thousand right now.
But I haven't even started.
I haven't really unpacked my bags yet.
- I'm talking about for the year.
- Oh.
- This year, I've been winning.
- What about last year? What's the worst? In a bad year, if I lost, maybe 50,000-60,000, then I would feel that It's hard, because sometimes you'll lose like 10 grand, but then, you will win 10 or 15 the next time, so Will you do any gambling tonight? Absolutely.
Oh, yeah.
Isn't that why people come to Vegas? Just bring what you can afford.
I brought 15,000 with me.
If I win, I win, if I lose, I lose.
I still have the house.
Let's go, tables await! - cashier awaits.
- And then the tables await.
The next morning, and Alan the high roller was ready to roll.
With a weekend of gambling ahead of him, Alan had decided to limber up with a few turns at the roulette wheel.
For me, it would be a chance to observe a big player close-up, and maybe pick up a few tips for my own gambling later in the day.
You're gonna see a lot of chips go down.
14, 17, 20 Down the middle! Just out of it.
Did you see that? - That was about $4,000.
- That was 4,000, exactly.
Gone.
It landed in my 20, and then it bounced over.
We don't like those.
Each chip was worth $ 100, and with between 40 and 60 on the table, he was risking around $5,000 a spin.
It's all about gambling, isn't it? Is there any technique to where you are putting them? - Are you basing it on a hunch? - No.
You're just picking what you feel.
He's just got to co-operate.
He's not co-operating.
- That's bad.
- Yeah, it is bad.
It's just warm up.
It's 11.
13.
But at least we're having a good time.
Well, you know, we don't like to lose money either.
We're here to enjoy ourselves.
Yeah, but they should tease you a little.
Have you been doing this for a while, have you been into? - Gambling? - Yeah.
I've been gambling since I was 16.
Really? How does your family feel about the gambling? - My wife is against gambling.
- Is she? But she knows what you're doing? Oh, she knows.
- She doesn't like it.
- Really? Why not? It's not a good habit.
It's not a good habit, but she You know, like most spouses, they don't know what your financial status really is.
Which is one of those things.
Come on! - You're in there for something.
- Yeah.
What does she say? She says, "Don't do it"? She doesn't approve of it.
She won't say, "Don't do it," but she won't come to a casino.
Which I can understand, but I'm not gonna change.
Why is it a bad habit? Well, I enjoy it.
So, there's I guess in the back of her mind, there's a risk factor, that, one day, things don't work out.
And you lose a lot of money.
Which is a possibility.
Right now, this is more money than some people make in a year.
It's a lot of money.
You know what they say - if you can't afford it, don't do it.
It's 17 I got it.
Now, you're into some serious money.
Now, you're up 50 grand.
Why not stop now, and then you are 50,000 up? Would I fly for six hours to play for 20 minutes? If you stopped now, would they kick you out of your suite? No, no.
They would never do that, because they know I'm a gambler.
.
.
take as many cards as you like on each one, unless you are splitting aces, then you only get That afternoon, I'd been hoping to make my own first foray on to the tables under the guidance of the two salesmen,John and Tim, but they had gone gambling on the Strip.
It was late in the evening when they finally showed.
How are you doing? You went AWOL.
- Yeah, I did.
- What happened? I don't know, I I've been up since, God, I don't even know.
Let's do a time check.
It's now 24 hours since I last saw you, you've been at the MGM - Right.
- And what happened? Nothing.
I've been gambling ever since.
- Winning? - No, I'm down.
14,000-15,000, plus the 10,000 that I won.
So, you're down 10,000 plus the 14,000? Plus the 14,000.
- So you're down about 25,000? - 20 24,000.
It sucks.
Have you been having a wonderful time? - Why did you do that? - They got the best of me.
It's hard to get off the tables once you're on there.
What about your technique? It went out of the door, they suckered me in.
We don't have to do this.
- No, I want to.
- Are you sure? - Absolutely.
- Why? Because I'm gonna hopefully teach you How to lose? Well, considering I am down, but I'm gonna hopefully teach you how to win.
What about you, is your game plan to win it all back? Maybe you should cut your losses.
I'm not a quitter.
No, I'll get it back.
I know it sounds sick and demented, but I willI will get it back.
I just need one good streak, one good streak, I could I could get it done.
My budget for the night was $500 of my own money.
It feels a bit sick.
I don't like it.
You're gonna like it.
You're gonna like it, and we're gonna win.
We'd be playing blackjack, also known as pontoon, also known as 21.
I was going to ride my 500 as long as I could.
I had a feeling it might be an early night.
- Good luck to you.
- Thank you.
Look, he's trying to act like he's never gambled before.
This guy is just as sick as we are.
Come on.
Big! Nice.
- Here we go.
That's a big hand.
- That's a great hand.
- How much did I make on that? - You made 60 bucks.
- I made $60? - Yes.
I should stop now.
No! Stop?! What are you talking about? You want to up your bet, push it a little more.
If you're on a winning streak, you can't keep betting the same way.
But then I might lose it all.
That's the chance, it's called gambling.
With all due respect.
Gambling is good, huh? Would you double down on that? I wouldn't against a deuce.
I started out with little bets and seemed to be holding my own, but John's winning streak was still a no-show.
This is just unbelievable, unreal.
I haven't won a hand in half an hour.
Oh, 21! It's tiring, man, it's so frustrating.
Big! Big! Big! Oh - That was a bad one.
- It happens.
Big, big! How can that be possible? - I'll be right there.
- Where are you going? - Right here.
- Why? Because I've been losing.
Here we go.
Don't touch the money till he's done paying you.
- He'll get very upset.
- Sorry.
Two hours in, I was $300 down, but Tim had been taking advantage of the free drinks that the casino lays on for all gamblers, and he was feeling confident.
Whoa! Why so much? - cos that's how I do it.
- 400? Big, just hope big.
Yes! Yeah! That's how you do it, man.
You got to understand - that's how you do it, look at this.
- Don't touch anything.
- I'm not touching.
- They'll throw you out.
- I didn't touch them.
Come on, come on.
Oh, come on.
Yeah! Louis! Talk to me! Are you ahead for the night now? I don't care about money.
You're only ahead if you leave the table, and you're winning.
What should I do? Maybe I should stop now, I might have broken even.
You don't stop when you're winning, man! What is wrong with you?! Damn! - Yeah! - There you go.
How much do you think I've got? 100, 200, 300 How much is this, can you tell? I can tell right now.
You've got, like, about 500 right now.
You can split it up in stacks of five.
I'm doing all right.
I'm not doing too badly.
How are you doing? - Forget about me.
- Double down.
That's how we do it.
- Oh! - She shot you the bullet.
Midnight came and went, but John showed no signs of giving up, and he had brought his losing streak back to the table.
Ohhe shot me the bullet.
We had a thing going, me and Louis, and then you jumped in.
can you back out one hand and let us go at it, please? Thank you.
Why are you guys always picking on me, man? I'm not.
I just lost three grand on one hand.
There we go.
Every time I sit on this table, I can't get on no streak at all.
- It's such a jinx.
- Oh, six of clubs, I'm sorry! Don't try that! Don't be negative.
Oh I just lost 100 on that.
But you're up 75 bucks after 19 hours - 9 hours.
How long do we play for? Do we just keep playing until we lose? No, hell, no.
You play till you win.
We WERE winning.
Johnny, how did you do over at the other table? What does it look like? John, play the odds, go after it.
One time, go after it, have some balls.
Look at him, he's scared.
The guy's scared.
With John still doggedly chasing his losses, I thought I'd round off the night with one last big bet.
Oh, Louis! - This is it, Louis.
- The moment.
This is the turning point right here.
Big.
- You took your seven.
- Big! Big! Yes! Yes! - You took the seven.
- Good job, Louis.
That's awesome.
Go to the cage, Lewis.
- I'm gonna go to the cage.
- Lou-ie, Lou-ie Louis, right? - Go to the cage.
- Thank you.
I'd been gambling into the wee hours, and then back into the big hours, and I was $200 up on my original 500.
700, you want everything in big bills? Sure, why not? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 700.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Have a nice day.
- You, too.
- How did you make out? - I didn't make out.
I lost about 4,000.
In that session? Well, yes, in the last four or five hours.
But you know what? It happens.
You've got to be prepared for that.
Next time, maybe I'll win 4,000.
You've got to know your limits.
You go out there, you have fun, you lose a little, but only lose what you can afford to lose.
You don't get crazy like John over there, see him? Look at him.
That's what you don't want to do.
That's an exact picture.
He's a good guy, but he just doesn't know when to leave.
He doesn't know when to leave.
Louis, he won't go.
How are you making out? - Absolutely horrible.
- Are you? Yes.
Very bad.
Big.
Oh, Jesus.
Johnny, Johnny, let's go and get a taco or something.
Come on.
I'm not leaving.
I'm not leaving.
I tried yesterday to get him to go.
I slept for nine hours Big! He'll be here all night, so you guys will be here all night, so I'm gonna get out of here and go to bed.
Are you? I've got to do some work tomorrow.
He'll be here for another 20 hours.
I'm gonna turn in as well.
Yeah, I'm tired.
- Are you gonna stay up all night? - Huh? Tomorrow, he'll still be here.
It's five past five in the morning now.
D'you know that? Er, no, I didn't know that.
So, I'm gonna turn in, are you gonna stay up? - I'm just gonna stay up.
- How long? I don't know, um - I don't know.
- We'll bring you a McMuffin.
- Thank you.
- Egg McMuffin.
What's the room number again? One, two One, two, three The next day and there was no sign of John.
I'd hoped he'd gone home, preferably to a house he still owned.
At the cashier's desk, I ran into Dr Martha Ogman, the big-time slots player, just starting her daily shift.
Will you get 500 out for me as well, Martha? Sure.
You want 500? What are you going to do with it? - Gamble it.
- I don't believe you.
You don't have the nerve.
It wouldn't take any nerve to gamble with your money here.
Oh, yes, it would.
It would.
- Why? - It doesn't make a difference.
Because once I give it to you, it's yours.
Let's go, follow me.
These are no good.
These two are possible.
- I'll play this one, then.
- OK.
Now is there any skill involved? - Any what? - Skill.
No.
You just have to gamble.
That's all.
That's how you play.
You always bet how much you want.
- Something happened.
- You got $20.
cash it out.
- Shall I cash out now? - Sure.
- Why? - You made $20.
You're not a gambler.
Hit it once more.
cash out.
You're not going to make any more.
- Why? - You've got $34 back.
I'm not going to make any more? Maybe you will.
Do you want to take a chance? Take it.
- It's not giving me anything.
- I told you to cash out.
It shows that you can become a gambler, because you never quit when you're supposed to quit.
It's so aggravating, isn't it? No, it's not.
Do you ever worry that you might be addicted? I can always quit.
I have never got addicted to anything in my life.
How do you know you could quit? Because I can just say I'm not coming in here any more and that's the end of it.
Have you thought of doing that? No, I enjoy it too much.
Why would I do that? And you can afford the habit? I lost $4 million in the casino in seven years.
$4 million.
$4 million? That seems like a lot.
That's a lot of money, yes.
But I enjoyed every moment of it.
Aren't you going to run out of money? No.
Why would I run out of money? Hi! She's guilty, take her picture! - How are you doing? - Hi, how are you? - Louis from the BBc.
- Hi.
Martha's one of your best customers.
She is.
She's not only one of our best customers, she's one of the nicest ladies I've ever known.
- Really? - Yes, yes.
Martha just said that, in seven years, she's gambled and lost $4 million.
- Yeah.
- She knows.
I'm not lying.
Oh, yeah.
Martha's one of our biggest players.
- $4 million? - $4 million.
Yes.
Because we have it on the computers.
If you ever thought Martha was gambling too much, would you have a word with her? I feel that I'm friendly enough with Martha that I can tell her, "cool it for a while.
" I really do.
And she wouldn't listen.
Have you ever what would lead you to say that? Um Gosh.
If she would go over and above what she normally would play.
I feel close enough to Martha, and I've known her I've been in here almost two years and I've gotten very close with her.
And I consider her a really good friend.
And I just feel if I really thought she was going way overboard, I would say, you know, "cool it.
" Look at his face! - Are you a multi-multimillionaire? - No.
Hey, I hit it! That's $100.
See.
- Are you winning? - No.
- Losing? - Losing.
Seriously? That's the way the hotel expects it to be.
- Are you winning? - No.
- Are you winning? - We are from Italy.
Later that morning, I went to find Alan the high roller.
He was now into his second day gambling, and from what I'd heard, losing heavily.
I wondered whether it was affecting his mood.
How are you doing? Morning, buddy.
What's happening? It's good.
How is it? Have you been lucky? Not bad.
Up and down.
I heard you were on the slots and you went down by 70 or 80,000.
- It was a bad day at slots.
- It was that bad? Yes.
Who's counting? You're counting? I'm just telling you what I heard.
You heard that? Yeah.
Yes, that was bad, that was bad.
What happened? Since then? Input, output.
A lot of input and no output.
- And now? - The odds weren't there.
- And now? - We're just starting off.
We're just going to have a little fun here.
We got action going on here, buddy.
- What do you mean? - A bit of action going on here.
A lot of money going on the table.
Big! Yes! Whoa! Look what happened, we made about 20,000 bucks.
These are $1,000 chips.
- Oh, yeah.
- These yellow ones.
And these purple ones are 500, but these are thousands.
- Not a lot of money.
- 15,000? No! 30, 40, 50.
It's about 60, 70.
Ready now? - Let's go, let's play ball, buddy.
- A big one! Oy, that was bad, that was bad.
- That was a bad one.
- That was bad.
I gave him back, uh - What you got there? 10 grand? - 8,000.
8,000? Look at you, superstar.
Say hi to Alex, our director of credit.
How are you, sir? He's the one that got you more credit.
More credit, more credit! - You better not need more.
- One more day.
Say hi to Louis.
- How do you do? - From the BBC? What are you doing? - What am I doing? - Right now.
What am I doing? I'm just waiting for Rich to give me back an answer.
About He's gonna give me a little credit card to go shopping.
Freebies? - Freebies, comps, on the house.
- How much? Probably 4,000 or 5,000.
Where are you gonna be? High limit, but I gotta go, like, in 10 or 15 minutes.
Where? - High limit - Slots? OK, I'll meet you over there.
Yeah, can you just make sure somebody's there? Hey, can I do a Neiman Marcus for 4,000 for Alan? Do you have a problem with that? Yeah.
We kinda do it for him whenever he comes in, yeah.
We always It's always usually a 160 deal.
No, no, I said usually every trip it's around that.
So you'll get up there.
What is it now? You wanna do three? How about three? Let's compromise, I'll do three.
Wow, so you've gotta negotiate.
Don't they calculate based on how much play he's doing? Yeah, anda loyal customer like that at his level, that is very consistent in everything he does when he comes to the property, you know, somebody like him, you see how much he plays.
He's on the tables, slot machines every almost three-quarters of his trip, and when he is, it basically averages out to the same every trip, so he's very easy to predict what to give him, so - Rick, how much was it? - 3,000.
If you thought he was If you ever thought he was gambling too much, what would you do? If he's losing, losing, like yesterday on the slot machine - he put a lot of money in the machine.
We were there for hours.
A lot of guys, they'll let him stay there, but I'll say, "Let's go to dinner!" Listen, it doesn't change anything.
But it just makes him feel a little better and get his mind off it.
He'll still come back and play, it's never gonna change.
It's not gonna change anything, it just makes the customer feel like he can breathe.
That's all.
But you would tap him on the shoulder and pull him out? - I'd never pull him out.
- Why not? Yeah, that's not my job to do that.
I'm not here to pull you out.
I'm here to invite you in and entertain you, and I'll watch your back.
At the same time, you're gambling.
I don't want to interfere with your gambling business.
It's not my business, it's none of my business that way.
As a friend, it could be.
As a friend, you get worried, but you know what? These guys don't do anything you want them to do anyway! They don't listen to you! You can express your opinion, you can suggest something, but they don't care, they don't listen to you.
Come on, they got so much more money than I do.
Who am I to tell them what to do with their money? No, you never tell somebody like that what to do with their money, never.
I only got 3,000.
You only get 3,000, sorry about that.
- 3,000?! - Yeah.
No disrespect, but you wanted it right now, I got it for you, that's all I got.
- When's? - Don't! When's the other five coming? - No, that's it.
- What? For the whole trip? - That's it! - All right, I'll stop gambling.
Hold on, hold on.
Is that a jackpot over there? Hold on, let me see it for a sec.
OK, now I'm checking out One of Alan's machines was costing him $90 a spin, another one $300.
Vacuum cleaners, these are vacuum cleaners at the Hilton.
- Why don't you have a seat? - can I? Well, it's better than looking over it.
Oh! That could have been a lot better, buddy.
What is the appeal of slots? cos there's no skill involved, is there? Zero skill, it's luck and timing.
So what is the appeal? The win, the thrill.
What is the appeal if it's just random? You're just pushing a button, it's like working in a factory.
You're not really You're just hoping that you're the one.
It'sto come to Vegas and have the opportunity of winning.
Do you want me to put more money in? It's quitting time.
I have a meeting, so I'm gonna love you and leave you.
You gotta spin it one more time, cos you would have won there.
But why you didn't win is cos you changed, you were getting rid of your credits.
Didn't, um Didn't you just say it was quitting time? Yeah, we gotta just spin one or two more times, just to make sure that the machine is, erfinished with me.
You never know.
It's a gambler's problem, when to quit.
We all wanna make it rich.
Do you think you might have a problem? Gambling? No.
It's just a sport.
It's like people golf.
You golf? - You don't golf? - No.
5,000.
You look at that like amazed or it's no good? - So you just won $5,000? - Yeah.
3,500 after tax.
You stop now? Yeah.
- We're cutting out of here.
- Thank you.
- Round up with you later? - Yeah, catch up later.
It had been 36 hours since I'd seen daylight, and so I ventured out onto the Strip.
I was making a house call on the Hilton's most dependable gambler - Dr Martha Ogman.
I'd been thinking about the prodigious amounts she'd lost and was curious about her life outside the casino.
I found her at home in a gated community behind the Hilton.
This is yourwonderful home? It's a mess, a total mess.
- This is the living room.
- This is the living room? You see all the boxes? No, so are youare you still moving in here, Martha? - Is that what's going on? - Yes.
I'm still moving in.
Who's the handsome gentleman? That's my son, my delicious child.
- How do you do? - Hello.
- Louis.
- Seth, nice to meet you.
Do you play the slots, too, Seth? - At times, yeah.
- He's not a gambler.
If I want to get rid of him, I give him $20 and he'll get lost for about an hour.
To people in Britain, some of the sums that Martha gambles are quite amazing.
She mentioned a figure of about $4 million in seven years, and I wondered what your take on that was.
Nothing.
What do you think about that, Seth? - Nothing.
- I think it's crazy.
I mean, I'll play some of the quarter machines and nickel machines, but I also go to the sports book, and I'll place a few bets and, er But I don't go crazy, I have a set limit, and I stick to it.
It could be argued that you are gambling Seth's inheritance.
You're right, and whatever's left he can have.
What do you think about that, Seth? - That's all right with me.
- Seriously? Why? She wants to gamble, it makes her happy, that's all right with me.
See that? He's a good kid.
Have you had a conversation with your mother where you said, "Enough, you know, it's getting excessive"? No, no-one tells me what to do.
Have you, Seth? My husband never told me what to do, and neither does my son.
I do what I think is right.
- Have you tried to? - I've tried.
It doesn't work.
She wants to gamble, it makes her happy, so that's OK with me.
- You have tried, though? - Yeah.
- How many times? - Oh, a few.
Many times, and what have you said? I just said, you know, just take a break, come back tomorrow, or let's take a couple of days off, and every once in a while, she will.
I'll take two days off and go back.
Now, can you see the Hilton from here? The Hilton's up here, you can see it.
- You mean the building itself? - Yeah.
Did you know that? Yes, that's the Hilton.
And if, when the time comes, Seth, you come into your inheritance and there's nothing left He's got money.
Well, hopefully she'll win the Megabucks, it's like 11.
5 million.
Seriously, though.
Well, if that's what happens, that's what happens.
- Come on.
- He has money saved.
- No, be real.
- He does! No, but to come into your inheritance and there's nothing left? If there's nothing left, there's nothing left.
- Seth? - Nothing you can do about it.
What can you do? She likes to gamble.
If there's nothing left, there's nothing left.
How come you're so philosophical? I think there's more going on.
It's too hot here to be I always say, when you're gambling at a casino, just take the money and run, cos I've seen people that have That's what you do.
1,200 credits in a machine, a quarter or a dollar machine, and they're still playing.
I say just take the money and run, cos they're gonna get you in the end.
You know, that's how they build these new towers.
Well, there's no telling her.
That's the problem.
With Martha, her gambling seemed less about winning or losing than about filling the days.
I was reassured she seemed to know what she was doing and all the more baffled why she was doing it.
I headed back to the Hilton.
I'd heard that Alan the high roller had been racking up yet more heavy losses and now he was leaving.
Hey, what's happening, buddy? - How are you doing? - OK.
I've been hearing rumours about you.
Wellare they good or bad? 250 in the hole.
Erlisten, I'd be happy with that, I think.
Really? Why? What happened? - It was a little nasty in there.
- What happened? - cards cards change.
- 300,000? - Oh, I don't know.
- 300,000? Pesos? Dollars.
You never know.
- You're never gonna know.
- How much are you down? We're down a little bit.
- Yeah.
- How much? - You're not gonna get it, Louis.
- Why? It's not good for me.
How did he make out, Richard? How did who make out - Alan? You gotta ask him.
To me, what happened, it seemed like he lost a lot of money.
I can't tell, I don't know Alan, but is he OK with that? He's fine.
You see the way he's joking? Yeah, I know, but Whether he loses money or he wins money, his attitude doesn't change, and he'll tell you that.
He's gonna go home, and it's not gonna affect anything.
It's not gonna affect his livelihood or the way he lives or anything like that, so when that happens, he's fine.
It's a guy that comes in and loses and wants to go home and sell stuff to pay us back.
That doesn't happen with him, he's fine, and none of my guys are like that.
He's going home with a heavy loss.
What would you have liked to see? This isn't the ideal outcome for you, or is it? What would be the best outcome for you? Well, just the fact that he comes in is the best outcome for me.
Whether he wins or loses, it doesn't go into my pocket.
I'm just here as a marketing guy to bring him in the building and keep him at the tables as long as I can.
Keep him at the tables as long as you can up to a point, not so that he hurts himself or affects your relationship No, I keep him at the tables for as long asI can.
And that's whether he wins or loses, so it doesn't matter.
My job is to bring certain players in and keep them at the tables and keep them gambling in the property, that's all.
With him and with a few others of my friends, they're friends of mine, more friends than they are players - it just happens I work here, and that's where they visit.
Look at that smile.
That's a million-dollar smile, he can never lose.
Slightly less than a million now.
Listen, you know what you know what makesa good person, a good gambler? Somebody thatwhether win or lose, they're still gonna smile.
It's good, you seem like you're in good spirits, so I'm pleased, you had a good weekend.
You take your good days, your bad days and, er There's no sensegetting sick.
All right, Louis, I'll see you soon, right? - Louis - Thanks, Alan.
Keep up the faith.
Get in there It was my last night, and in true Vegas style, I'd arranged to have a blow-out.
I had $3,000 burning a hole in my pocket.
Would I win? I had a feeling probably not.
But I was ready to join the ranks of the heroic losers who challenge the odds and keep smiling, even when they come up empty.
My guide for the night would be another of Richard's high rollers, an IT consultant called Dan Rodgers, better known in Vegas as Dan the Man.
- Dan the Man! - Louis.
- How are you doing? - Fine.
How are you? - Yeah, good, how are you doing? - Doing really good.
Good, good, good.
- So are you ready? - Yes, I am.
Have you got the spondulicks? - I have the spondulicks.
- Do you? I can't spell it, but I have it.
What do you think about this? What does this? Uh-oh.
What does that say to you? That says you're ready to go.
- What does that say? - It says I'm ready to match you.
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
What have you got there? Oh, just a couple of thousand.
- No, this is five.
- You've got five.
- I've got five.
- I've got three.
- You got three.
- I've got three and I'll raise you ten.
Oh, yeah? Let's go to the safe.
No, this is fine, this is my blow-out.
Shall we have a sharpener before we go out? Sure.
Just to loosen the wrist a bit.
Absolutely.
What shall we do? - You tell me.
- Orange juice? Orange juice with a little vodka.
- What do you think? - Wanna order something? Didn't they put anything in your room? So are you excited about playing? - A little nervous.
- A little nervous? Yeah, yeah.
This is my money, this isn't production money.
Really? This is out of like ATM money? This is my own money, I went to the bank and got it.
Well then, that'll give you a good way to feel the happiness or the sadness.
I will have a Macallan 18 on the rocks and - A Bloody Mary.
- A Bloody Mary.
Just one.
I don't even know if I approve of gambling, Dan.
You don't know if you approve of gambling? Everything we do in life is a gamble, my friend.
- Meaning? - This is entertainment, not gambling.
Las Vegas is all about entertainment.
- Hello! - Hello, sir.
How are you? - How are you doing? - Good, good.
Thank you.
- We do have to do this.
- Yes, we do.
Don't we? Whether we want to or not.
We have to do it.
This is the blow-out.
We have to do it.
- cheers.
- cheers.
Vegas.
To Vegas.
Wanna go down? You've gotta go in with a winning attitude.
How do you do that? You just You think.
- It's possible.
- Shall we do it? Yes, let's do it.
I sort of almost am resigned to losing.
Don't ever resign yourself to losing.
Why? We'd be playing baccarat, a game of pure chance favoured by the high rollers who fly in from Asia, and also at one time by James Bond.
I didn't know the rules, so I'd be leaving the decisions to Dan the Man.
Hey! Thanks, how are you doing, buddy? Good to see you.
How are you doing? Good to see you.
He showed me the cash.
Wow, is that an envelope you have there? Yeah, he got an envelope.
- Look at this, this is real.
- Wow.
That's pretty impressive.
I hoped you'd say that.
I may have to comp you some rooms or something.
I'm getting 12,000, so I look bigger than you.
- $12,000? - Yes.
What I like to do with my first hand is start on the bank.
- Start on the bank? - Yes.
What are you doing? 600? I'm putting $600 on the bank.
- I'll start 300.
- OK.
You're on the bank.
- Six.
- At least a six, right? At least a six.
Right.
So we got a six.
- How about that? - How about that? How do you feel? We're winning.
Richard, how do you feel that we're winning, though? Listen, you win, I see you more.
Remember that, I see you more if you win.
- Now pick that up.
- And we lose eventually.
No, we don't lose eventually.
- No, we don't - No, we don't.
The night started with a win.
Oh, baby! That's what I'm talking about! Oh, yeah! And then another.
Monkey! And then another.
We got monkey! It was as though, because I'd resigned myself to failure, on this night Lady Luck had decided to tantalise me by making me win.
Monkey! A big-hand win! Oh, but an eight beats it all! - Did we win? - We won, natural eight.
One?! One don't beat eight! - Did we win? - Yes.
On other nights, I too would be a loser, but not tonight.
You battered her with that nine! You show her who Louis is! And I found myself slipping into the role of a high roller with surprising ease.
- I'm only up by 1,500.
- Only? After an hour and a half, you won 1,500.
Where do you make 1,500 in an hour and a half? What happened to my Bloody Mary? - It's coming.
- Where are you going? Where am I going? It's all too much for him! "Where are you going?" Like a lost puppy! - Wanna follow me? - Where ARE you going? To the cage to get our money.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten is 4,000 Why don't you gamble? cos I'm smart, I live in this town.
You can go broke gambling in this town.
But look at this.
Listen, I'm so happy I made you happy.
That's the whole point, right? Look, we'll give you a brand-new Hilton envelope to put it all in.
- And you don't even do this.
- No.
- What for? - I like making you happy, how about that? Look at that smile.
- Look at that! - Beautiful.
Where's the catch? There is no catch - welcome to Vegas.
How much is in here? 4,590.
Did you have fun in the gut? Did you have fun down here? Did you forget about everything - the show, your interview - and for one brief second win? I think you did, I think you felt it.
I know you did.
- It was good.
- And you're scared by it.
What was weird was I was resigned to losing it.
I told you not to.
But then I won it.
My high-rolling was done, and for a moment I HAD felt it.
It might be illogical and self-defeating, but when you're winning, gambling makes perfect sense.
The casinos practise a kind of seduction on us, but mostly we are their willing victims.
For this victim, though, it was the end of the line.
For now.
Hi, Martha.
Oh, hi, how are you? - I won $1,500 last night.
- Oh, isn't that nice? - You won that much? - Yeah.
I'm not playing any more.
You quit? Why? I wanna take my money and run, I wanna go home a winner.
You're gonna sit down and you're gonna play again.
And I know you are.
And I'm telling you you are.
Ha, I hit it! Take this, take this - this is a win! That's a win.