Living Life to the Full: Gambling Celebrities

Check out a selection of celebrities who are known to enjoy the glamour and allure of gambling.

Hollywood stars and other major celebrities have always been regarded as casual gamblers, making frequent appearances at luxurious casinos, at the races, and even at WSOP tables. But with the latest increase in popularity of American poker rooms and other gambling pastimes with general public, it looks like the famed and rich are also spending their dollars on gambling.

True, celebrities have a lot more funds to spend freely. Lately, it has become less prudent to keep large sums of money in the bank. The interest rates the financial institutions are giving are simply pathetic. And with the financial crisis still raging there’s always a risk that banks might go bankrupt.

This makes celebrities with a lot of free money look towards gambling opportunities under American gambling laws. Chasing Lady Luck is all about glamorous lifestyle and adrenaline rush, which celebrities are already used to, but here we have a nice opportunity to make a buck or two, not that they need it, but there’s no such thing as too much money.

Friendly poker and baccarat

It’s no secret that some celebrities enjoy playing a friendly poker game with their friends. But in case of movie stars the stakes are a bit higher than your average $10 buy-in games. Ben Affleck, Leo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and of course Tobey Maguire have all been known to play poker with passion.

Celebrities who love to gamble

• A selection of celebrities known to enjoy chasing luck under American gambling laws

• Poker is the favorite game of choice, but blackjack and baccarat are also popular

Baccarat have always been considered a Rich Man’s Sport, remember Bond, James Bond? The game is very popular among high rollers of Macau and it’s no surprise that movie stars enjoy playing it too. Another factor here is that Baccarat is much easier to master than poker. And it really doesn’t matter if you play it at glamorous Las Vegas establishments or at online casinos in the United States.

The Ladies

While the Hollywood boys are enjoying their thrills of gambling, it doesn’t mean that the ladies can’t do the same. Shannon Elizabeth, remember your drooling over her in American Pie, is renowned for her decent poker skills. Jennifer Tilly, Bonnie from Family Guy, took poker one step further and has practically replaced her acting career with the game. She’s already over $500,000 in career winnings so the decision was a sound one.

Betting on sports

Charlie Sheen may be famous for his drunken escapades, but he’s a known gambler too. His ex-wife and Hollywood hottie, Denise Richards, has revealed that Charlie was betting up to $20,000 per week on a variety of sporting events. We’ll try to forget about Sheen’s trips to Las Vegas where the main destination wasn’t the casino floor…

When it comes to sports betting it’s not only the movie stars that enjoy the thrill of punting. Singer Gladys Knight is known to have lost a large chunk of her records’ sales backing the wrong teams, and a smaller portion on blackjack.

Turning pro

Besides Shannon Elizabeth and Jennifer Tilly, who can now be considered to be professional poker players, there are other big names that take gambling serious. Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond went public after the show was closed in 2009, that he was suffering from what he called “little gambling thing.”

By now he has sorted himself out, but his co-star Brad Garrett went on to become a professional poker player next to being a stand-up comedian.

As if they didn’t have enough

And then there are the occasional prodigies. Ashton Kutcher has been blessed with great acting talent, and looks (well, according to the ladies). But the actor also possesses great apt for financial management and gambling skills. Some of his investments, like Skype for example, are making his already secure future a bit more luxurious. And he is also known to have run a college football handicapping syndicate, which reportedly was netting Kutcher up to $750,000 per month.

And let’s not forget Ben Affleck who has recently been told not to come back to a certain casino, after the management deemed his blackjack skills too good to keep the house winning. Ben reportedly been banned from another casino after the first episode, for similar reasons obviously. However, another Las Vegas property has been quick to react saying they always welcome Ben Affleck with open arms, regardless of what the competition does.