Roulette Legends – The Greatest and Most Memorable Roulette Players of All Time

This is probably my favorite page of the entire site. Here is where we discuss famous roulette legends, whose stories will captivate you and keep you driving through to that huge win. Some of the names you may have heard of before, such as 19th century roulette players Charles Wells and Joseph Jagger, but there are also more recent gamblers who left their mark on this simple but intoxicating casino game. You will hear about Ashley Revell, who sold everything he owned and bet his entire life's worth on a single spin of the roulette wheel, as well as Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo, who in the 1990's tested a specific roulette theory he had developed ... for a cool €100 million ($137 million) in winnings. Many of these player never had access to the luxuries of practicing free play roulette, or accessing live dealer roulette or flash instant play roulette on their computers. Ready to meet some of the most legendary roulette players of all time? Read on.

Joseph Jagger

Probably the most famous roulette player of all time was successful for his observation of technical aspects of the game. Way back in 1873, Joseph Jagger paid multiple casino patrons to track the outcome on every single roulette wheel located in the famous Monte Carlo casino. He had developed an idea that since roulette wheels and tables were designed by man, they could not be totally perfectly constructed. This is a practice in the industry known as wheel bias play, and after many days of extensively reviewing the openly available data his team collected, Jagger got to work. By sticking to tables which seemed to favor nine certain numbers, the most famous roulette gambler of all time took down £65,000 ($108,524), which would be over $2.1 million in today's money.

Charles "Charlie" Wells

And just a few years later a small time London criminal named Charles "Charlie" Wells made his mark in legendary roulette lore by once again cashing in impressively in Monte Carlo. After defrauding several invention investors, Charlie took his ill-gotten gains of a few thousand British pounds and took advantage of what he said was an incredible lucky streak which lasted an amazing 11 hours. From one table to the next, Wells employed an aggressive Martingale roulette system and literally won all of the money stored at each table! He returned and successfully repeated that incredible feat again a few months later in November, taking home more than 1 million Francs on each occasion, a mind-numbing total of nearly $49 million in today's terms. Since he literally broke the bank at every table he played at on those two trips, Wells was dubbed "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo".

Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo

At the Casino de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo proved his belief that not all roulette wheels were perfectly random. Like Jagger, he too collected results, but analyzed them this time with a computer. He believed that particular numbers were more likely to occur after a certain number came up, and proved his theory by winning over €600,000 ($825,000) in a single day. After taking home more than €1 million ($1.37 million) in total, the casino asked the big winner to leave. They eventually took legal action against Garcia-Pelayo, with the judge in the case siding with Gonzalo, and adding that the casino should just fix their broken wheel!

Ashley Revell

And in 2004, a 32 year old young man from London, England placed what is probably the riskiest single roulette bet of all time. Selling everything he owned, including his clothes, the wishful roulette gambler raised $135,300, literally every penny to his name. After being turned down by several casinos, the Plaza Hotel & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada decided to allow Ashley Revell to wager that entire sum on one single roulette spin. The event was announced and television stations were on hand to watch as Revell successfully hit his bet on Red, doubling his money to $270,600. The gutsy gambler left $600 as a tip for the dealer, and simply walked away, adding his name to a long list of legendary roulette players which shall never be forgotten.