Big Winners

[Gene Nielsen]

In recent years, 1994 and 2004 respectively, two individuals both
residing in the U.K have risked large sums of money on a solitary spin
of the roulette wheel. Both won.
Firstly a forty year old computer programmer called Chris Boyd chanced
his arm and travelled to Las Vegas in 1994 to make this remarkable
bet. Having saved for three years he managed to accumulate $220,000 to
take with him. Placing the bet however, was a lot more difficult than
first anticipated. Many casinos refused the bet although one casino
did accept, the last one he approached - Binion's Horseshoe Club.
Although the maximum bet allowed was $100,000, the casino let him make
a $200,000 bet and on single zero terms, blocking out the other zero.
Boyd's chances of winning were 48.6%. After his win, Boyd vowed never
to step into a casino again.
Ten years on in 2004, another Englishman, 32 year-old Ashley Revell
repeated Boyd's feat in another Vegas casino. Unlike his predecessor,
Revell sold to fund the bet. All his possessions including clothes
were flogged to raise cash. In total '76,840 was gambled on the red
despite Revell having second thoughts on changing colour moments
before.
The following people have won a large amount of money from different
sources but they didn't quite emulate Boyd and Revell on the risk
factor although they all became millionaires.
An online gambler nicknamed 'Mojo' from Birmingham, U.K, won over two
million pounds on The Millionaires Slot Machine at Littlewoods Casino.
He became the U.K's first internet gaming double millionaire.
More recently, another online gambler called Obaesso won over four
million pounds on May 15th 2007. It was the first time the factory
worker had played 'Millionaires Club' and had to confirm the huge win
by phoning InterCasino because he couldn't quite believe it.
The biggest U.K lottery win to date was achieved by Angela Kelly in
August 2007. The Royal Mail sorting office worker from East Kilbride,
Scotland won '35.4 million, but this was dwarfed by the '77 million
jackpot won on the EuroMillions in July 2005 by Dolores McNamara of
Limerick in Ireland.