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Created on Friday, 09 May 2008 16:55

Big Roulette Win For Mike Ashley: Newcastle United Owner

Newcastle United owner and billionaire gambler Mike Ashley has won a big pile on the roulette wheel at an exclusive casino in Mayfair: Fifty London. The man who famously rehired Kevin Keegan, or Special K as he is known on Tyneside, may have a few more pennies to throw into the transfer pot following his win on his lucky number 17. Alledgedly, Mike Ashley won £1,300,000 million ($2.5 million) on a single roulette spin of the wheel after a "Complete Bet" on black 17, James Bond´s favorite number too incidently.

Fifty London is a luxurious casino in St James Street, in the high-rollers' stomping ground of Mayfair. This casino has a colourful history and rich heritage and was first opened in 1827. Known as "the Ascot of gambling", the Duke of Wellington and Count D'Orsay were regular punters.
Keegan has gone on record recently for saying that the club will struggle to match the likes of Manchester United and Chelse who sit at the top of the Premier League in England. Maybe this will change his mind.

The Complete Bet is a complex bet combination that covers all the angles for a single number.

Mike Ashley would have asked the croupier to "complete" the number 17 bet, or to place a chip on every corner touching the 17s and every splitbet that can be made from it, PLUS a bet on odd and black. So a single bet on 17, a corner bet on the 14,15,17 and 18, the 13,14,16, and 17, the 16,17,19 and 20, and the 17,20,21 and 18. The a split roulette bet on the 14 and 17, and 117 and 18, the 17 and 20, and the 16 and 17.

Although not normally recommended as a safe bet, this obviously worked for the Newcastle United owner. Big Hand for the Toon Army Man- congratulations. He obviously has cojones. That's putting it mildly, 007.

Here are the exact details of Mike Ashley´s Bet:

..here's how he played his chips.

First, he bet as much as he was allowed (£2,000) on the single No 17 bet. At a pay out of 35-1, it netted him £70,000. (Most of us would have stopped there).

Then he asked the croupier to "complete the bet"- ie he bet £4,000 on each of the 4 'splits': that the next pocket that the ball would land in would be either 17 or the number next door to it – 14, 16, 18 or 20. So a total amount of £16k at odds of 17-1 giving a payout of £272,000.

He the bet £8k on each of the 4 'corner' bets – squares of 4 numbers that include 17. A total investment of £32k at a payout of of 8-1, netting £256k.

The a  'street' bet that the result would be 16, 17, or 18. A winning £6k bet pays at 11-1 giving £66k

Next 2 £12k bets that the result would be inbetween 13 and 18, or 16 and 21. A £24k investment that pays 5-1 and pays £120k.
Then £100k on each of the even-stevens bets: black, odd and low numbers (1-18) 1 and 18. £300k bet this way would net £300k.

That´s still not it! £50k on each of the two columns: the middle one on the table and the middle dozen , 13 to 24. Total bet: £100k. Total winnings: £200k.

So the TOTAL BET was : £480,000 and his TOTAL WINNINGS were £1,284,000. Phew. Definitely DON´T try this at home and less you just recently floated your company on the FTSE and bagged a billion or so.