William Lee Bergstrom
A legend in Vegas for his fearless nature and his large betting practices,
William Lee Bergstrom is a story that still to this day amazes anyone who hears
it. Better known around the Vegas community as “The Suitcase Man” or “The
Phantom Gambler” William made a name for himself in a rather short period of
time on the gambling circuit.
He wasn’t like many of the other gamblers that had taken up residence in the
casinos on the Vegas strip. He was a courageous gambler who wasn’t afraid to
stick his money where his mouth was and make the casino owners do the same.
One of our favorites stories from this casino was that of an adventurous gambler named William Lee Bergstrom from Austin, Texas. Bergstrom had heard that Benny Binion’s latest gimmick was that the “sky’s the limit” when it came to maximum betting amounts at the Horseshoe. Bergstrom called to ask Binion if he would really accept a bet of. William Lee Bergstrom (1951 – February 4, 1985) commonly known as The Suitcase Man or Phantom Gambler, was a gambler and high roller known for placing the largest bet in casino gambling history at the time amounting to $777,000 ($2.41 million present day amount) at the Horseshoe Casino, which he won.
Early Years
William was born in Austin, Texas in 1951 and had a brother named Alan. Alan and
William had an unsettling childhood growing up in a family with divorced
parents. The divorce hit William hard and led to him striving for approval from
his absent father.
He graduated from high school in 1969 and went on to attend college at the
University of Texas until dropping out in 1974. Once he dropped out of college
he started selling real estate which became his livelihood for the remainder of
his life. He did very well as a real estate agent and that allowed him to start
purchasing his own properties.
He likely never would have come to Vegas had it
not been for Benny Binion and his gimmicks. Binion had started a new promotion
with the name “The Sky’s the Limit” where he promised that any gambler who came
into his casino and was willing to make their first bet their highest, he would
match it.
William just happened to be one of those people who just couldn’t let
something like that go by. So he did everything he could to put enough money
together to make a bet that would be life changing, and when he did he headed to
Vegas.
He didn’t have a life of luxury before going to Vegas but he wasn’t a poor
man. He had become a real estate mogul by the time he started his career as a
gambler. He never gave up his real estate business, but after his trip to Vegas
he decided to travel the world for a few years.
Gambling
In the early 1980’s a casino in Las Vegas owned by the Binions declared that
they’d match any high stakes bet that was placed at their casino as long as it
was the player’s first bet. This was just another of Benny Binion’s gimmicks to
get more people into the casino and raise the wagers at the start of the game.
Back in Texas, William heard of this promise and decided to see just how real
it was. He placed a call to the Horseshoe casino to talk to Benny Binion. He asked
if he placed a $1,000,000 bet if it would still be matched. Binion said yes, but
at the time William didn’t have the money.
He started gathering the money up and when he had accumulated $777,000 he
decided he was going to try his luck. He packed one suitcase with $777,000 and
took another empty suitcase and headed to Vegas. When he arrived at the
Horseshoe casino he headed straight for the craps table. He apologized to Binion
for not being able to raise the full $1,000,000 and asked if the $777,000 would
be matched as well.
When he entered the casino he didn’t exchange his money for chips, he just
took his suitcase full of money and placed it on the table. He placed his full
bet of $777,000 on a single dice game of craps don’t pass line. Instead of only
playing with his $777,000 cash bet he was also playing with the casinos $777,000
match, which gave him a total wager of $1,554,000 on a single bet at the craps
table.
The current shooter established a point of six and just two rolls later
rolled a seven giving Bergstrom the win. He placed the bet anonymously but when
he won one of the owners, Benny Binion, came down and introduced himself and
even helped William pack up his winnings. Together they packed his empty
suitcase up with the casinos $777,000 and William picked up both suitcases and
was walked out to his car by Benny’s son Ted, and that was the last they saw of
William for years.
This is not the end of William Lee Bergstrom’s time in Vegas. He, like most
other high stakes players, couldn’t stay away and was back at the Horseshoe
placing another large bet. He’d been gone for around three and a half years
before he showed back up on the scene.
William came back to town on March 24th, 1984. He placed a bet of $538,000 on
another craps game. He won this bet and was on a roll. He ended up winning an
additional $190,000 and another large win of $90,000 on the don’t pass line on
craps games. He used his winning for good and took his mother to see Willie
Nelson, then disappeared again.
On November 16, 1984 he finally made his million dollars bet he’d wanted to
make that first time he walked into the casino. He called his now friend Benny
Binion to check and make sure that the casino would still honor their promise.
Benny agreed that as long as his first bet was his highest bet he would match
it. When he walked into the Horseshoe on that November day he had a suitcase
filled with $550,000 in cash, $140,000 in gold Krugerrands, and $310,000 in
cashier’s checks. He made the same bet as before, and put it all on the don’t
pass line on a game of craps.
This was not to be a repeat of his first bet with the casino, as on the first
roll of the dice the shooter won with a roll of seven, causing William to lose
everything. He left the casino and would not be seen there again.
William had become known as the “Suitcase Man” throughout the gambling world
because of the way he always carried his money. Every time he came into a casino
he would be carrying two cases. One case was full of money, and one was empty so he had some way to
carry out what he won.
He had a confidence about him when he walked into the casino that appealed to
other gamblers and the casino owners. Benny and Ted Binion got to know William
over the years. Ted is even noted as saying that the money that William used to
place that first $777,000 bet was all borrowed money.
He said that William had told him that if he had lost that bet he was
planning on committing suicide instead of going back without the money. By some
good fortune he won that bet and was able to instead travel the world before
returning to do some more gambling in 1984.
Death of William Lee Bergstrom
A few months later, on February 4th, 1985 William was found in the Marina
hotel on the strip, dead. He had committed suicide by taking too many pills. It
is said he left a will in the room but what was in the will has never been
released.
His friends and family believe that at the time of his death he was not broke,
but that he was actually still working in the black with about $647,000. Many
thought his suicide was a result of his epic $1,000,000 dollar loss but his
friends and family believe it had nothing to do with his loss at all.
He had recently gone through a break up with his partner who was 10 years
younger than him and this is believed to be the real reason for his decision to
end it all.
Although his life ended at a young age, William will be forever remembered for
his courage to challenge a casinos promise to match any bet no matter the size,
and making that bet as large as he could.
William Lee Bergstrom's Birthday
Legacy of William Lee Bergstrom
Bergstrom didn’t belong to the lifelong member club of the gambling elite in
Las Vegas. He didn’t spend years making a name for himself and he didn’t have
to. Instead, all he had to do was take up the challenge put out by Todd and
Benny Binion to seal his status in Las Vegas Lore.
William Lee Bergstrom's Age
Not only did he win that first bet and double his money but he also had a
very dramatic loss just a few years later that gives his legacy a fairy tale
gone wrong feel. Just like many others in the history of gambling and that high
stakes world of Las Vegas, William became known by a nickname. He was dubbed the
“Suitcase Man” because of his tendency to arrive at the casino with two
suitcases.
His legend is so well known in Vegas that just the mention of William or the
Horseshoe casino is sure to get the story going. William’s story was even referenced
in an episode of CSI. In the episode, a man comes into a casino
and places a $1,000,000 dollar bet on a single roll of the dice, and lost. Even
though this is a fictional show, it shows just how legendary this story really
is.
Since his passing, there have been a number of awards and prizes established
throughout Vegas in his name. Even with The Horseshoe Casino no longer being
under the ownership of the Binion family, it doesn’t change the story of William
Lee Bergstrom from being told to the newbies.
Conclusion
William Lee Bergstrom will forever be known as “The Suitcase Man”, and will
always be remembered for his courage to take the casino’s challenge and win.
Even with his epic loss being the last bet he ever placed, the story of that
first bet lives on and above his losses.
The history of gambling is littered with examples of people dropping unthinkable amounts of money on things as trivial as the toss of a coin or a single roll of dice. Despite stories of such wanton excess, including many of individuals winning or losing tens of millions of dollars in a single night, discerning which of these high-rollers holds the honor of making the largest single bet in history is rather difficult. This is in part because casinos and bookmakers tend to keep information about especially large bets close to their chests. For example, prior to the 2018 Super Bowl, it was reported by the MGM Grand in Las Vegas that an unnamed gambler had placed, to quote, “one of the largest reported bets… in Nevada”, wagering that the statistical underdogs, the Philadelphia Eagles, would beat the spread. The problem was that while MGM’s vice president of race and sports, Jay Rood, was happy to report that the bet was amongst the largest Vegas had ever seen, he refused to specify exactly how much the anonymous gambler had actually wagered or who had placed the bet. The same is true of similarly large bets placed in recent years with casinos and bookmakers being frustratingly opaque when it comes to reporting the exact amount especially brave or wealthy gamblers wager on sporting events and the like.
All this said, the nature of high-stakes gambling and the kind of personality that tend to gravitate towards it means that there are countless stories out there detailing frankly astonishing displays of testicular fortitude.
As for a few of the largest of such single bets we could track down, consider the story of William Lee Bergstrom, better known more simply as the Phantom Gambler before his identify was later discovered. In September of 1980, Bergstrom casually strode into Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Vegas carrying $770,000 (about $2.6 million today) in cash in a suitcase. He subsequently walked over to craps table and explained that he’d like to bet it all on a single throw of dice- a wager it should be noted that represented, at the time, the single largest well documented bet ever placed in the United States. After a few nervous glances were exchanged between the croupier and the pit boss, casino owner Ted Binion intervened and told Bergstrom that the casino would of course honor the bet and personally walked him over to the cashier’s cage to have his money converted into chips. You see, at the time Binion’s had a policy that if it was a gambler’s first visit to the casino, they’d honor a bet of any size and Ted Binion wasn’t a man who was want to go back on his word.
As promised, Bergstrom took the chips and bet them all on a single throw of dice, which he won. Bergstrom then walked back over to the cashier’s cage and had all his winnings converted back into cash, which he then divided between the original suitcase his money had been stored inside of and an empty suitcase he’d seemingly brought along just in case he won.
Binion would later recall that he personally escorted Bergstrom to his rental car and observed him nonchalantly throwing the suitcases onto the passenger seat before driving away. During the entire ordeal, Bergstrom barely spoke and reportedly reacted to the news he’d won the equivalent of $2.6 million today with nothing more than mild surprise. Because he never told anyone his name and the bet had been so astonishing, Bergstrom came to be known in Vegas as the Phantom Gambler as well as, perhaps more aptly, the Suitcase Man.
Things got even more curious when, in 1984, Bergstrom once again walked into Binion’s and did the exact same thing, this time betting $538,000 (about $1.3 million today). As before, Bergstrom bet the entire amount on a single throw of dice (which he again won) and left the casino without acknowledging what he’d just done or really speaking to anybody outside of the minimum needed to make the bet and cashout.
A few months later, Bergstrom strolled into the casino again and bet one million dollars on another single throw of dice. On this occasion, however, Bergstrom lost but still somehow maintained his cast-iron facade, reportedly afterwards simply eating an enchilada and leaving. A few months after that, Bergstrom killed himself.
Although it was initially reported that Bergstrom killed himself because of his gambling losses, a letter written by Bergstrom prior to his passing revealed that he was left despondent by the breakdown of a relationship he’d been having with a younger man. In the wake of his suicide, family members revealed that Bergstrom wasn’t a big gambler and nobody who knew him personally seemed sure why exactly he’d randomly bet such large sums on something as trivial as a single throw of dice. You see, independently wealthy from real estate dealings in his native Texas, Bergstrom had no need for the money he won, though he did enjoy travelling the world with his lover prior to their breakup.
Bergstrom’s brother would later surmise that he had made the bets in an attempt to be remembered for something. The latter hypothesis was supported by the fact that Bergstrom’s will specified that his urn bear an inscription identifying him as the “Phantom Gambler of the Horseshoe, who bet $1 million on November 16, 1984”.
Moving onto something a little less depressing, another gambler known for making exceptionally large bets, seemingly on a whim, was Australian media mogul and billionaire Kerry Packer. Legendary in the sphere of gambling for his exploits, Packer happily gambled away millions during his lifetime, routinely betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on single hands of blackjack or a game of baccarat, and over the case of days of gambling winning or losing sometimes tens of millions of dollars.
Known for his eccentricity and generosity, Packer would casually hand out six figure tips and liked to reward especially attentive waitresses and croupiers by paying off their mortgages. The billionaire was so well known for this that during his lifetime a popular adage amongst casino workers in Las Vegas was that “nobody called in sick when Kerry Packer was in town”. On one occasion, Packer attempted to tip a croupier $80,000 who explained to him that because all tips had to be pooled, she would only get a small portion of it. A furious Packer, who by the way was also known for having a bit of a temper, called over the casino’s owner and demanded that he fire the girl on the spot. Not wanting to lose the casino’s best customer, the owner did just that, at which point Packer handed her the $80,000 and demanded the owner rehire her.
On another occasion, in 1990, Packer was taken ill and needed to be rushed to hospital. Not long after, each of the ambulance crew were given $1 million for their services. On yet another occasion, upon learning that casino staff had lost out on a $40,000 bonus because he’d won too much money, he tipped the entire staff $1.3 million.
Gambling wise, Packer constantly hassled casinos into letting him make bigger and bigger bets, sometimes calling ahead to ask how much money a given casino had on hand before turning up. If the amount wasn’t to his liking, he’d simply take his business elsewhere. Packer’s habit of making obscenely large bets coupled with his tenacity and skill led to him quite literally running a few casinos out of business during his lifetime, with Aspinall’s in London reportedly going bankrupt directly as a result of Packer winning so much of their money in 1990. This led to Packer being banned from dozens of smaller casinos and a few big ones- a fact he was especially proud of, once reportedly responding to being politely asked to leave a London casino by saying “I’ve always wanted to be banned from a casino for winning too much.”
It’s unclear what Packer’s largest single bet ever was, with some reports suggesting that the aforementioned MGM Grand allowed him to play blackjack for as much as $500,000 a hand shortly before banning him for life after he won $26 million in a single evening of gambling.
However, if a popular anecdote about Packer is true, it would seem likely that he made the single largest wager in history, or at least seriously proposed wager. The story goes that while enjoying some high-stakes gambling at a private table at the Bellagio, Packer was approached by a Texas oil tycoon who asked if they could join him. Packer politely refused, prompting the irate Texan to loudly boast that he was worth, depending on which source you consult, anywhere between $60 to $100 million. Packer, woefully unimpressed by the taunt, looked the Texan dead in the eye and said “If you really want to gamble, I’ll flip you for it.” The Texan, however, declined to bet his entire fortune on one single flip of a coin so the bet was never consumated.
So is that story actually true? Well, for what it’s worth, it has been independently confirmed by multiple sources including Mirage Resorts CEO Bobby Baldwin who claims to have personally witnessed the exchange. If true, we feel fairly confident that Packer likely holds the record for largest bet ever seriously proposed, though not placed or won.
Of course, Packer was worth billions. So even $100 million wasn’t exactly going to change anything about his lifestyle if he lost or won. This brings us to the honorable mention for the most ballsy bet of all time, which happened to also be a rather large one, at least by most people’s standards.
Enter then 32 year old Ashley Revell. Although Revell’s bet was for a comparatively paltry £76,840 (roughly $180,000 today), the amount represented every penny he had to his name. You see, in addition to clearing out his savings, Revell sold all of his possessions down to the shirt off his back (he made the bet in a rented tuxedo). In other words, outside of perhaps the value of his underwear, assuming he was wearing any, Revell was quite literally betting everything he had.
While there are many stories of people gambling away their every possession, even the wealthy (such as that time a guy took $50 and turned it into $40 million via gambling, then promptly lost it all), there are no examples we’re aware of of someone doing so on a scale like this via a single bet. Likewise, as impressive as it is to read about someone betting half a million dollars on a single hand of poker or something, a billionaire betting that amount is about the equivalent to a normal person putting a dollar into a slot machine. Win or lose, is just isn’t really risking anything for the person and, if they’re not risking anything, can it really be called gambling?
Revell, on the other hand, bet everything on one, single spin of a roulette wheel- a feat even a man like Kerry Packer never dared in a lifetime of gambling.
So what happened? He bet it all on red and won, managing to double his money on one spin, giving him roughly the equivalent of $360,000 today.
He admitted after the experience that, “… it was a mad thing to do. And I’m thinking back now about what would have happened if I lost. I’d have had nothing to go back to, nothing to wear. But I’d still have my friends, my family, and they’d always be there for me. So they gave me the security to be able to do this.”
Unlike many who win big in gambling, Ashley decided that tempting fate once was enough for him. He declined to bet a second time and cashed in his chips at the table and walked away.
As for what happened after, Revell spent a small portion of his winnings on a motorcycle trip around Europe, where he met a girl while in Holland. He states, “I took her back to England with me, we married and now we’ve got two children. You could say I have my bet to thank for finding me a wife.”
So, if you think about it, while he didn’t know it at the time, that single bet wasn’t just for his entire net worth, but he was also gambling his wife and the lives of his two children, the latter of which would have never existed had he lost.
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