“Detroit man gambles away $1.5 million accidentally given by ATM”
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/detroit-man-gambles-away-1-5-millio...
“Page, who in reality had only $300 in his checking account, used the accidental loophole to withdraw more than $1.5 million—losing it all on gambling.”
“prosecutors said his crime was a “lapse of judgment” and placed blame with Bank of America for allowing the withdrawals to take place.”
Well, to be honest, I am a bit divided about whether we can blame someone for being a dumbass…
Wait what?
There is a feature they can switch on that allows unlimited withdrawals?
And how did he figure it out, it says $300 balance and he tries $1000 and gets it? So then he just keeps trying larger amounts until the machine is out of money? And then raids all the ATMs? Dude that’s awesome!
But wait, then he blows it all on gambling? Not so awesome. Is he retarded?
But wait again, maybe he is actually a genius, he just said gambling cause that way it’s all lost…but secretly he has it stashed somewhere? Cmon, he must have made a stash.
I think the guy was about 50 years old? Should have smuggled that money out of the US and moved to Thailand and disappeared
Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and greatest weakness.
wait, there is a loophole?
moving to Thailand is highly suspect…..
Nah I’d def move to Thailand. If I got canned and couldn’t find a job that’s where I’ll go :P.
you’re a pedo…..
That escaladed quickly.
I have two theories on gambling it all away.
1. As purealpha said, the guy just said he lost it all gambling so he could keep it. I would think casinos would notice someone losing $1.5 MM and could confirm or deny his story. Losing it inconspicuoulsy would take a lot more time than he had.
2. He actually did gamble the money hoping to turn it into a lot more. He probably knew he had to give the money back and tried to turn the initial over-withdraw into more money so he would have a profit after giving back the bank’s money. As most gamblers do though, he lost and kept going back to try to get even again. What did he have to lose really? 50 years old with $300 in the bank. If he wins at the tables, he gives the money back and keeps the winnings. If he loses, he gets a fine he can’t pay and gets a bed and 3 squares per day from the prison system.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
This is like the movie Owning Mahoney based on a true story of a loan officer who’d take fake loans from his bank to go wrecklessly gamble. IIRC he was Toronto based, might have something to do with the water up there?
I’m with purealpha, here’s to hoping he’s got a stash hidden away.
It could be very simple. The man gets drunk at a Casino, withdraws 5k or whatever, then withdraws more. Wakes up, realizes “oh sh*t, the bank’s gonna want this money back and I can’t afford it, maybe I can win it back.” They withdraw more, and thus the viscious gambling cycle is born. It’s not that unusual, except for the scale.
I used to smoke pot and go to class.
Sneak in ten minutes late with a bullsh*t excuse.
Slink down low at my desk.
Pray to god nobody asked me any questions.
I was the best teacher ever.
I agree with the casino knowing. If he was throwing away hundreds of thousands, the casinos would certainly know him and accomodate him with a luxury room, free dinners, free theater tickets etc etc
You want that customer to keep coming back over and over, they will know who those people are
Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and greatest weakness.
Yeah, not a bad idea. I’ve got a system with roulette, never left Vegas without being up, but it only gets you small gains and takes time. But if I had $1.5M I think I could make a few hundred thousand, stash that, and give the rest back. Or lose it all. Or maybe the casino would break my legs for running a system, never gambled with $1.5 freakin’ million before…that tends to draw some attention I would think.
^ if your system actually works you should write a book on it, probably make a nice buck.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
I call BS, if it were any other game, maybe. But roulette? You serious? It’s the most mathematically straight forward of the bunch.
I used to smoke pot and go to class.
Sneak in ten minutes late with a bullsh*t excuse.
Slink down low at my desk.
Pray to god nobody asked me any questions.
I was the best teacher ever.
@higgmond, purealpha is talking about betting on the same color and doubling your bet each time. Eventually, you’ll win. Only works with small amounts because there is sometimes a betting limit on roulette wheel. Also, from what I hear this is banned in certain Casinos; not sure.
Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle class > Born lower class > Born in crack house > Working in IT but looking to switch to buyside
how do you eventually win? In the long run you are sure to lose because of the two odd colors 0 and 00
I know the theory behind doubling down everytime you lose and keeping your wins, but that usually requires a true fair game of 50/50
Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and greatest weakness.
Ahhh, the old martingale system. Assuming that’s the case, I believe he would actually be better off playing the pass line at the craps table instead of playing roulette.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.
It also requires unlimited capital. I know a few guys that have tried this doubling-down system. It works a few times and they think they’ve figured out a way to at least never lose. Problem is if you start out with $10 and the wrong color comes up 10 times you lose $10,230. Not really practical for the casual gambler. That 10th spin you’d have to put down $5,120 just to get back to +$10. Nope.
….to think you have figured out a system in roulette is a sign of stupidity mixed with an extreme dose of arrogance…..no offense to the perpetrator….
…the practical downfall with martingale at roulette is table limits. Those will get you long before american/european or capital issues. The range of limits is wide and the more favorable tables are usually lower limit. Conceivably you might be able to come up with an edge if you factor in house points/comps since the benefit to martingaling is you’re deferring the loss for as long as possible, but even that is probably not worth it.
I love this. “There’s a system that actually works to produce gains, we definitely need to ban that.” Nice work casinos.
“I lost my wife to a margin call. Wives get mad when you come home and say, ‘Sweetheart, I lost the house today.’” - Dennis Gartman on trading mistakes
It’s been definitelively and mathematically proven not to produce either gains or an advantage if you google around.
I used to smoke pot and go to class.
Sneak in ten minutes late with a bullsh*t excuse.
Slink down low at my desk.
Pray to god nobody asked me any questions.
I was the best teacher ever.
Martingale cannot work for an extended peiord of time in the real world. It can only work in a world with unlimited wealth and no table limits. You will eventually hit a losing streak that either exhausts your bankroll or requires a bet that exceeds the table limit.
You can fondle the cube, but it will not respond.