The gambling world is a perfect setting for an action movie: huge money flows, daredevils with their “all or nothing” credo, roller-coaster rises and falls. If you are an aspiring screenwriter looking for ideas, just dig a little deeper in textbooks of gambling history or the latest casino digests. You are sure to find enough material for a drama, crime, or action megahit.
Running with the hare and hunting with the hounds
Let’s start with a blood-chilling story taking place in the 70s in Las Vegas. A man disappeared without a trace and has never been found since then.
George Vandermark was not just a common man, of course. He was a slot machine supervisor at a casino who decided to share some secrets with the city mafia. The man skimmed about $7 million from his workplace telling the criminals that all he managed to get was $3,000,000 and kept $4,000,000 for his personal needs.
Nothing good will come out of lying to the mafia – that’s the lesson to draw from the story. The man didn’t get to enjoy his $4 million as nobody could find him, dead or alive.
From a gambler to a murderer
And now to more recent events.
We live in a world where everything is just a few clicks away. You can be sitting in your cozy armchair and working or shopping: no need to leave your house, which is especially convenient during lockdowns and quarantines.
On the other hand, you may be sitting in your armchair and gambling, and no one will notice it. You may be just having fun or losing one thousand after another, and nobody will know.
In the Indian city Chennai, the year 2022 started with horrible news. A 36-year old bank worker first killed his wife and two kids and then took his own life because of unbearable online gambling debts that had been piling up for quite some time.
This is not the only suicide story caused by gambling frustration and addiction: there are hundreds of them all across the globe. Psychiatrists notice that the number of mental health issues triggered by online gambling has increased drastically in the past two years. They encourage anyone who occasionally plays online pokies Australia real moneyto always stay aware of their behavior changes. As soon as you notice that your gambling habits start to influence your everyday life in a negative way, you have to seek help. Waiting or ignoring the matter will never resolve the problem.
‘When the fun stops, stop’, says GambleAware. We believe that it’s the safest way to gamble for real money.
Beating the worst odds doesn’t always mean getting paid
You probably know that entering a casino, land-based or online, you automatically agree to an unfavourable deal. The chances to win at any casino game, starting from slots and finishing with Roulette, are discouraging if we look at them as mathematicians or statisticians. The House always wins, remember?
What can be more frustrating than finally striking it lucky with the worst odds possible and not getting the deserved prize? Perhaps, nothing.
Well, a lot of well-known casinos refuse to pay out. Names like Betsoft and Crystal Palace Group were involved in scandals concerning using scammed game software or just never giving the promised cash prizes to gamblers.
Blackmailing at its best
The Pandemic has not only caused global chaos, financial and social problems; for some of us, it has been a real inspiration.
Goh Tian Shun went to a Singapore Marina Bay casino and tried to get into a VIP lobby. When a casino guard approached the visitor telling him that he was not allowed without a pass, the gambler put a bold face on and threatened the floor manager that he would tell the Singapore authorities (who are known to the whole world as not an easy-going crowd) that the casino let unvaccinated guests inside. The blackmailer added that he wasn’t being unreasonable and would happily keep quiet in exchange for $200,000 worth of chips and VIP status.
After the casino watchers made the daredevil leave the premises, he didn’t cave in. He also tried posing as a yellow-page journalist and calling the casino with the same threat.