Rich idiot lost $1 Billion in gambling addiction

One of the realities of the gambling world is that the casino always wins. It means the house always has an edge. The gamblers who consistently win will tell you the same thing. But many gamblers think they have an advantage, and many times they experience short-term wins. Those wins are usually gone over the long term gambling.

When normal people think about gamblers, they usually think that these gamblers want to make money and get rich, right? Which is true in many cases. But the reality is they are addicted to the feeling of gambling, and 99% will never get rich from gambling.

It is understandable that people with no money gamble to get money. But have you ever wondered about the people who are already super rich and still gamble? Are those people doing it for money? These rich gamblers are known as high-stakes rollers in the gambling world, and all of them are addicted to gambling and are compulsive gamblers. In my last video about gambling, I explained how gambling is similar to getting addicted to hard drugs like heroin.

Losing Billion dollars in gambling addiction

But can you lose a billion dollars in gambling? First of all, if you have a billion dollars, that means you are among the top 0.1% of people in the world. Earning money is the hardest thing, and if you are able to earn a billion dollars, that means you are extremely smart and have done something right in life. That’s why you have a billion dollars. The next hardest thing after earning money is keeping that money, and many people cannot do that.

Such is the story of a real estate developer known as Harry Kakavas. In just 14 months, he lost bets worth billions. Kakavas is from Australia, which is known as the gambling capital of the world. The gambling problem is huge in Australia, and you will find 2 in every individual gamble each week.

Harry Kakavas history

Harry Kakavas made his fortune primarily through real estate investments in Australia. He was a highly successful property developer who made millions from investments in the Australian property market. Australia’s real estate market, particularly in the 1990s and early 2000s, saw substantial growth. It was a golden period for real estate investors in Australia, with property prices soaring due to increased demand, low interest rates, and economic growth. Kakavas capitalized on this by buying properties and either selling them at significant profits or developing them into more valuable assets.

He was quite successful from the beginning in his profession. In the early 1990s, kakavas was introduced to gambling casually. But over time, this casual gambling became his addiction. He became one of the high-stakes rollers at many casinos around Australia. Kakavas also expanded his gambling to other countries and frequently began gambling from Las Vegas to Macau.

Beginning of gambling

Initially, Kakavas seemed to be able to balance his professional life as a successful real estate developer with his gambling habits. However, his gambling began to intensify in the mid-1990s, as he started placing increasingly large bets, particularly in baccarat. Baccarat is usually favoured and played by high-stake gamblers. This was also around the time when his wealth from real estate was growing rapidly, giving him the financial means to gamble at extreme levels.

He used to gamble for several hours at a time, betting up to $300,000. He knew he had a gambling problem, and in 1995 he placed himself under a self-exclusion order and sought treatment for a gambling problem. 

Jail time because of gambling

In 1998, he was jailed for four months for a $280,000 fraud related to property deals. Kakavas had defrauded a company by providing false information to secure funds. His gambling problem was affecting his professional life as well. He used to make false promises to the customers and would spend that money on gambling. During his high-stakes gambling sessions, he sometimes ran out of funds but continued to gamble by borrowing from people close to him. He borrowed millions from his property developer friend and from other friends to fuel his gambling habit.

In the crown casino, another VIP gambler named Jimmy Siu used to play. He had some professional rivalry with Kakavas. When Kakavas was arrested, the crown casino thought that he would create trouble, so the crown casino banned Kakavas.

After his release from jail in 1998, Kakavas’s addiction couldn’t let him sit quite. And all the casinos he was banned from, he begged them to be allowed back into the casino. After the release for the next few years, until 2001, he was desperate to be allowed back into Crown Casino.

Gambling in Las Vegas

As he was banned from the crown, he kept running his real estate business and used to gamble somewhere else. In 2004, one of the Crown’s owners spotted kakavas gambling in Las Vegas. He found out that Kakavas had lost $4 million in Vegas, and he thought, Why is he not losing money at their casino? So the Crown Casino revoked his ban and allowed him to gamble.

When he was back, the Crown Casino provided him with full hospitality. They provided him with a private jet and gave him hotel stays. They also provided him with a line of credit to gamble. Whenever Kakavas used to come to the casino. He would always get a couple $50,000 boxes in his car to gamble.

The crown provided Kakavas with a private jet for his personal holidays as well. Kakavas went on an Asian holiday with the jet provided by Crown Casino.

Kakavas was such a big gambler that he used to lose more than $2 million in just 30 minutes. On one occasion, he lost $164 million AUD, or around $110 million, in a very short duration. When Kakavas ran out of money, the Crown Casino lent him that too, up to $4.5 million. One time the casino also drove him to the bank to withdraw an extra $345,000 after he lost $1 million.

Kakavas sued crown casino

When he made losses, after that Kakavas sued the Crown Casino for claiming $35 million in compensation.

In his legal battle against Crown Casino, he claimed that the casino exploited his gambling addiction. Kakavas argued that despite knowing he had a pathological gambling disorder, Crown lured him back with incentives, such as private jets, hotel accommodations, and commission rebates on losses. He claimed the Crown had provided him with credit to continue gambling, which was against regulations.

However, the courts ultimately ruled against Kakavas, stating that he was responsible for his own actions and choices. The court found that Kakavas, a successful businessman, had the capacity to make decisions, and the casino did not act unconscionably. Despite his claims of addiction, the Australian High Court sided with Crown Casino and dismissed his case and his claim for $35 million.

After the case result came out in the year 2013. Kakavas focused on his real estate business and stayed away from gambling. Since then, he has been doing well and has a net worth of more than $60 million.

Conclusion

This Kakavas case should tell you about gambling. Even if you have millions or even billions of dollars, you are not immune from the fact that the house always has an edge. And no matter what you do, you will lose your hard-earned money if you gamble. This is why it is important to stay away from gambling because the odds are not in your favor. It will affect your life really badly. To know how people get addicted to gambling and can’t get rid of it, you need to subscribe to the channel and watch this video.

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