Confessions Of A Compulsive High Roller
One summer day in 1975, Bernie Frederick had such a hot hand it nearly melted. The New York lawyer, a heavy gambler who was then under indictment for his role in a stock swindle, had come to Las Vegas with $17,000 in racetrack winnings. Sitting down at the blackjack table, Frederick--a pseudonym chosen to protect his identity--pulled out two $100 bills and over the next six hours ran up a gain of $56,000. Gambling straight through dinner in a special room for high-rollers, he won another $20,000. After dessert, he tallied an additional $18,000. "Now I've got $111,000," he recalls. "I put it in a safe-deposit box and go to bed happy. Back home I have huge legal fees, and my mortgage is going unpaid, but this money will straighten everything out."
Wanna bet? Unable to stay in bed, Frederick marched back down to the lobby and set about gambling again. By the time he slunk out of the casino four hours later, he had blown his entire winnings. In fact, he was in the hole to the casino for $25,000. "Flying home, I finally realized I was sick," says Frederick, now 48. "No matter how much I won, it would never be enough."
