Depends to an extent on how you play Roulette. Playing optimally, the odds are...pretty bad. Playing like he did, the odds are...really bad.
You can't play roulette skillfully.
The more you put on the board, the more edge the casino has. It doesn't matter where you put your bets.*
Unless you're playing at a table with an
en prison rule
You're absolutely right, no skill. By 'optimally' I mean not betting lots of numbers. If you bet optimally, you're still going to lose over the long term. People can do what they like, me personally, I really hate it. The casinos depicted were happy to treat the guy like a king, and ply him with booze, even though they know that either:
-he is addicted to gambling and requires treatment and should be kept away from the casino
-he is operating on the assumption that over time somehow he can actually finish up
Far be it for me to take the high ground over gambling, I'm just saying it as I see it in this case: this man looked sick. Did you see the way he was ploughing big bills into the bandits?
I don't know how much he has, but I'm guessing it's not in the hundreds of millions. If it was, his wife wouldn't be so pissed about his gambling; he wouldn't appear so dazed at the end; he probably would be playing a decent game, not sitting in the corner pumping notes into a puggy; he wouldn't give a damn if their free shopping credit card was $3000 not the usual $4000. I would say this guy has about $5-10M at his disposal.
He believes he can do what he did repeatedly and finish roughly level or up. Thousands have gone before him and ended up losing the lot. He becomes addicted to the thrill, hits a low when the losses grow, then tries to chase it back with more extravagant wagers, and loses the lot. Might even *oops* lose his casino friend and suite in the process, there's a surprise.
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