Casinos are built on the premise that the improbable can become the possible. Knowledgeable players know that the odds favor the house but still, every year, tens of millions of players visit brick-and-mortar casinos or sign into their online casino account to compete at table games and play slots for real money.

People play for a number of reasons. Some are energized by the fast action and high energy of casino gambling. Others look forward to the social interaction that the casino offers. But everyone dreams of striking it rich!

The image of suddenly finding that your bank account has grown by leaps and bounds draws more people to the casino every year.  The flashing lights, the ringing sounds…everything comes together to create an atmosphere that says "the next big win could be yours!" In truth, however, not everyone can experience the thrill of a big casino payday. While you spin your reels and throw your dice, it's fun to think about joining the ranks of history's biggest casino winners.

Some of the stories include:

Archie Karas

Archie Karas, who died in the '90s, earned the title "History's Greatest Gambler" after he turned $50 into $40 million. Karas came to Vegas from Greece with $50 in his pocket in 1992. He borrowed $10,000 from a friend and doubled the money that day by playing $200/$200 limit raz. He then moved on to the poker table, where he won $3 million.

Karas played night after night and slowly built up his bankroll playing against the casino and against poker greats like Chip Reese, Stu Ungar, Doyle Brunson, and Puggy Pearson. Eventually he accumulated $40 million but when he started to lose, he couldn't stop, even when he knew that he should.

"Money means nothing to me. I don't value it." Karas said. "I had all the material things I ever wanted. Everything. The things I want money can't buy: health, freedom, love, happiness. I don't care about money, so I'm not worried. I don't care if I lose it."

Eventually, Karas did lose the entire amount, but he kept playing. In 2013, the Barona Casino accused him of cheating at blackjack and he was eventually banned from all Vegas casinos.

Johanna Heundl

Johanna Heundl decided to celebrate her 74th birthday at Bally’s Casino with a casino stay, a $200 gambling budget and a buffet breakfast at the hotel. She played with $100 in the evening and then headed off to bed. On her way to her breakfast, she put $70 of her second $100 on a Megabucks machine and hit the machine's $22.6 million jackpot prize, the third-largest slot jackpot in history.

Heundl had originally believed her win to be $2 million, which thrilled her. She was astounded to discover that the actual payout was $22 million.

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Elmer Sherwin

Sherwin was a WWII vet who defied casino statistics that held that, based on the number of stops that a slot machine makes and based on the number of jackpot symbols on each reel, you have a 1 in 49.8 million chance to win a progressive jackpot. Sherwin was a retiree who lived in Vegas and visited the Vegas Strip casinos frequently for casual entertainment. While playing on the Vegas Strip, Sherwin beat the trillions-to-one odds to win TWO Mega Jackpots, once in 1989 and again in 2005.

Sherwin, a retiree, was a regular at Vegas Strip casinos who liked to play the slot machines. He had been playing for years but it wasn’t until November 1989 that he became a casino sensation. On that day, he visited the brand-new Mirage Casino. After playing for over an hour, he bet $3 and spun the reels on the Megabucks slot where jackpot symbols lined up to deliver a $4.65 million payout -- the largest slots jackpot ever won in Vegas on a slot machine.

Sherwin continued to play slots at various casinos on the Strip. Sixteen years later, Sherwin won a second jackpot at the Downtown Cannery Casino, valued at $21.1 million.

A major portion of Sherwin's winnings were donated to charitable causes.

Don Johnson

In 2010-2011, over the course of six months, blackjack maven Don Johnson won over $15 million from Atlantic City casinos by playing single blackjack hands of up to $100,000. As a high-roller, Johnson was able to negotiate with the casinos to give him a 20 percent discount on his losses and better house rules. The casinos, including Caesar's, the Borgata and the Tropicana, never dreamed that Johnson would be able to parlay their efforts to attract the high-stakes player into losses for the casinos of several million dollars each.

The casinos actually reached out to Johnson, a professional gambler, to invite him to play via special deals. Johnson started out with $500,000, figuring that, even if he lost the entire $500,000, thanks to his discount, he'd only have to pay $400,000. But in the end, his wins far exceeded his losses. Johnson claimed that he didn't count cards but rather involved skill, discipline, and the ability to exploit the casinos' desperation to attract high-stakes players.

Kerry Packer

Kerry Packer was a professional gambler who could be found at the casino baccarat table playing 3 hands simultaneously at $250,000 each. Packer wasn't afraid of losing – when he was on a losing streak, he could rack up tens of millions of dollars in losses within a few days. However, when he was on a winning streak, his wins more than made up for those losses.

Casinos around the world coveted Packer's business. Not only did he draw a crowd, he was the guest to beat all guests, tipping and gifting dealers, servers and other casino staff lavishly.

Packer may best be remembered for a 1989 visit to Las Vegas when he went to the Mirage to play baccarat. The tables weren't ready but that didn't stop Packer from encouraging the pit boss to grab a crystal ashtray and smash open the baccarat setup so that Packer could settle down for a session of high-stakes gambling excitement. Packer walked away from that evening with a couple of million dollars. To show his appreciation, he made a $100,000 bet on behalf of the dealers.

The odds don't encourage optimism but there are always surprises in store when you play real money casino games!

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