Lottery/Casino Winnings

Like some of you I have debt I need to get rid of. I use to play the lottery a lot, but I did ultimately learn that I was losing more than I was winning. So I was wondering, what is the most you have won from a lottery or a casino? I actually have three big wins:

1st win - $800 - Obviously need to be 21 to gamble. So at midnight on my 21st birthday I headed down to Atlantic City and tried my luck. I did horrible, the casino was really crowded and it took about 15 minutes to burn through a $100 (Blackjack, by the time the drink lady came I had gotten up and she refused to serv me because I wasn't at a table). Fast forward 12 hours and my family takes me back down. This time I go to a $1 slot machine and just start hitting buttons, big winner $800 bucks!

2nd win - $1250 - My buddy is getting married and we head to NYC to go to the Phillies vs Yankees game. We drink there and back to the hotel in Atlantic City. So everybody goes off to do their own thing, I go with a buddy who isn't gambling and we hit a slot machine. Again I play $1 dollar at a time (this machine lets you pick the amount per spin). We are talking and I am just tapping away, when I look to find the machine goes three accross. We both look at each other and nothing happens! The third one is a little off, so I was getting ready to hit the machine when it starts howling! Two things sucked about this win:

1. Had to pay taxes on this
2. Had I played the full amount allowed, it would have been $10k! I actually got it on the third spin and would have gotten 4 spins from my $20 bucks. Wins a win though!

3rd win - $736 - This was the win that hurt the most. I had been playing the NJ Cash 5 for a couple weeks and right around my birthday I brought $20 worth. Lottery goes off that night and someone wins $150k. So I start checking my numbers, missed the first one (I had 1 number less then the needed number) and then bam 4 numbers in a row! Could have wiped my debt clean and then some with that win....

What I didn't include were casino wins where I didn't play. There was a span of a couple of months where I could go down with a buddy and I would just help finance the Blackjack pot. He is really good and under normal circumstances we were winning $400 to $600 a weekend.

Anyone else with some good stories?

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Comments

jibbajabba

I won a couple of grand in poker but I stopped playing as I don't have the patience any more .. When I sit down at a table I get bored after a while and don't care any more, hence making stupid moves, going out quite quickly.

But I agree - gambling in the US is "expensive" - at least here in the UK we don't pay taxes on winnings.

lordy

When my friends and I started playing Texas Hold'Em at home regularly we decided that we wanted to try our luck at the casino. They were offering a beginners tourney with a starting fee of 75 €. We were a group of 5 and played with 55 other people.

Two people dropped out rather quickly and half way through the tourney I played an all-in against my buddy. I won and moved up to the final table. It was tight play as the top 6 players were to share the pot. I even folded QQ for some, now unclear to me, reason.

When the bubble burst everybody was relieved and normal play commenced. I had some pretty good hands but unfortunately lost on the river against a 2-outer and came in 5th. I got 400 € of prize money and went home quite happy

the_Grinch

Nice! Yeah the taxes kind of suck, but depending on how much it is and how you win it, it's not too bad. In the case of amounts $1200 and under, at the casino you can use a machine to give you the cash. Above $1200, you have to hit the cage and fill out the forms. Lottery wise, anything over $500 has to have taxes paid on it (at least in NJ). Gotta give my Uncle something or he has to start begging!

Blackout

I played pachinko slots in japan once shitfaced on jack and coke, and won like 800 dollars in steel ball bearings.......

That was back in my drinking days, I haven't had a drop of alcohol in about 2 and a half years. lol got a family to think about now.

tpatt100

I won a hundred dollars years ago playing video poker. I went back and lost fifty dollars and thought I could win it back. Lost a hundred more and realized I have that addictive prone personality so I never gambled again.

jibbajabba

tpatt100 wrote: »

I won a hundred dollars years ago playing video poker. I went back and lost fifty dollars and thought I could win it back. Lost a hundred more and realized I have that addictive prone personality so I never gambled again.

Rule #1 : Leave credit cards / cash you don't want to spend at home

Hypntick

Pulled in about $300 on blackjack one night, would have been $500 but I didn't have the sense to leave the table when they changed dealers.

Also pulled in about $100 on slots on a cruise, which went right back into drinks.

themagicone

You know you can write off gambling losses to the extent of your winnings... So if you win $5000, you write of $5000. You might pay up front but you'll get it back refund time.

Everyone

I rented a room out in my house to a guy that wanted to be a professional poker player when I lived out in Montana. Gambling is legal out there, so we had a few live Texas Hold'Em tables around time. One of them had a free tournament at the beginning of the night, everybody got the same amount of chips. If you won the free tournament, the house paid your buy-in for the real table.

One night I won the free tournament, and I walked out with $350. Most of it I won from the guy I was renting to, he was pretty pissed.

I want to say the minimum buy-in was usually around $20. I'd go play one night a week, and usually left with at least the same amount I started with. It was a lot of fun getting to play for free a few times, and walking out with money on top of that.

demonfurbie

im not allowed to play blackjack anymore =(

my latest win was on a carnival cruise - 1199 (no taxes) and according to the tax office my wife also won 1199 and my sister won 889

colemic

$60 worth of nickels from a nickel slot machine.

Devilsbane

I'm **** enough that I keep track of all of my winnings and losing. I used to make frequent visits to the Casino (blackjack). I never played with much ($50 to $100) and usually only played the $5 tables. Wasn't going to "make money" but rather just to have fun. If I could spend 2 hours at the casino and walk away even, I was happy.

That being said I usually did quite well for myself. One semester I didn't quite have the money for college, luckily the Native Americans pulled through and helped pay my tuition. I'm up something like $600 or $800 now, but I haven't been in a year and a half or so.