It is no secret that celebrities like to spend their more or less hard-earned money and are often more reckless than others. It is also common knowledge that famous people buy everything from luxury cars to real estate and like to flaunt their swanky lifestyles. However, they desperately try to keep other things secret – their gambling addiction, for example. Whether it’s online casinos, Las Vegas, or poker tournaments, some of Hollywood’s biggest names, men and women alike, are gambling addicts.
Some celebrities are even considered real betting professionals and are known to be good at it and have almost made it to a second career, an online casino from Malta points out.
For most celebrity players, however, gambling addiction losses are significant at all levels: financial, professional, and social. Who is really addicted to gambling, and who seems at least a little concerned with it? Which celebrities are the winners, and who are the losers?
Tiger Woods – the fallen star
US golf icon Tiger Woods is a good friend of basketball legends Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. Both are high rollers who enjoy their luck when they play, and maybe Woods has gambling addiction problems. Woods became a regular at the Mansion, a club for high rollers at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he received a $1 million betting limit and routinely played $25,000 worth of blackjack.
Tobey Maguire – a real poker professional
In 2011, Spiderman star Tobey Maguire was indicted along with other celebrities for participating in a multi-million dollar illegal gambling ring. According to the charges, he won more than $300,000 in illicit funds, allegedly stolen by hedge fund investor Bradley Ruderman, who was released in 2018 after eight years in prison and subsequently named some prominent poker sinners in Hollywood – among the names was that of Tobey Maguire. He is apparently an excellent Texas Hold’Em player and won a lot of money in secret poker games in New York and Los Angeles.
After learning the game from a professional, the actor entered and won the World Series of Poker. Friends close to the actor, on the other hand, worry about this. After all, it would not be his first addiction: Maguire struggled with alcohol addiction at an early age and joined the anonymous alcoholics at the age of 19.
Michael Phelps – from the pool to the poker table
The former US swimming star Michael Phelps is another sportsman on the list of gambling addicts. Friends say it seems that the young Olympic participant is very busy with Poker and could easily blow millions of dollars.
Phelps won a total of 22 medals and has been playing Poker for years, where he is very competitive. Part of what has enabled him to be a successful swimmer could now be extremely damaging to his bank balance at the poker table.
Ben Affleck – how to win and run away
Ben Affleck is one of Hollywood’s most successful actors, but he too obviously doesn’t know what to do with his millions. And so it is said that the Oscar-winner was involved in one of Tinseltown’s top-secret poker games and lost $400,000 to Ron Meyer, the president of Universal Studios Hollywood.
The actor has checked into a rehab clinic in 2001 because of his gambling and alcohol addiction. In 2013 Affleck starred together with Justin Timberlake in the thriller “Runner, Runner” about gambling. Perhaps this was not the wisest choice.
Gladys Knight, Matt Damon, Charly Sheen, Allen Iverson, Nelly, and Ray Romano, many celebrities in the show and sports business are known for their gambling addiction.
They may have (been) successful with their films and Olympic Games participation, but gambling chances are no greater for them than those who get to live out their high-rolling obsession online, like on 918kiss. When it comes to recovering their losses, the odds might favor the more affluent, however.
