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Men Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo
The Monte Carlo Casino was inaugurated in 1863. Since then the bank has been broken on a number of occasions. The expression "breaking the bank" is used when a gambler wins more money than the reserve held at that particular table in the casino. At the start of each day, every table was funded with a cash reserve of 100,000 francs – known as "the bank". If this reserve was insufficient to pay the winnings, play at that table was suspended while extra funds were brought out from the casino's vaults. In a ceremony devised by François Blanc, the original owner of the casino, a black cloth was laid over the table in question, and the successful player was said to have broken the bank. After an interval the table re-opened and play continued. The names of only a few of the men who broke the bank are known, and some are listed below. Joseph Jagger Joseph Jagger was a Bradford textile engineer who looked for and found imperfections in the balance of a wheel which he exploited to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Carlo Casino
The Monte Carlo Casino, officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. The Casino de Monte-Carlo is owned and operated by the Société des bains de mer de Monaco, a public company in which the Monaco government and the House of Grimaldi, ruling royal family have a majority interest. The company also owns the principal hotels, sports clubs, foodservice establishments, and nightclubs throughout the Principality. The citizens of Monaco are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms of the casino. History The idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco originated with Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess Caroline, a shrewd, business-minded spouse of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, Prince Florestan. Revenues from the proposed venture were supposed to save the House of Grimaldi from bankruptcy. The ruling family's persistent financial problem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breaking The Bank
In gaming, breaking the bank refers to a player winning a critical sum of money from the casino. The literal, extremely rare, situation of breaking the bank, is winning more than the house has on hand. The term can also be used for the act of winning more chips than there are at the table. Another situation of it portrayed in fiction is a situation where a gambler will win more money than the casino owns, forcing the casino out of business, and winning the casino itself as a prize. In blackjack, card counting can facilitate a winning streak that eventually breaks the bank. Mark Bowden reports in ''The Atlantic'' that blackjack player Don Johnson broke the bank in 2011 winning nearly $6 million at Atlantic City's Tropicana casino after previously taking the Borgata for $5 million and Caesars for $4 million. The Tropicana refused to continue playing with Johnson on the terms the casino had negotiated after Johnson won $5.8 million, the Borgata cut Johnson off at $5 million, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monégasque Franc
The franc (unofficially MCF) was the official currency of the Principality of Monaco until 1995 (''de facto'', 1996 ''de jure''), when it changed to the French franc. The franc was subdivided into 100 ''centimes'' or 10 ''décimes''. The Monégasque franc circulated alongside the French franc with the same value. Like the French franc, the Monégasque franc was revalued in 1960 at a rate of 100 old francs = 1 new franc. The official euro-to-franc exchange rate was MCF 6.55957 to EUR 1. Today, Monégasque coins have only numismatic value, including the ''fleurs de coins'', or proof-like coins. The period for exchange of the coins for euros has expired. The Monégasque franc was legal tender in Monaco, France and Andorra. Coins Monaco's first decimal coins were issued in 1837 and 1838, in denominations of 5 centimes, 1 decime and 5 francs. The 5 centimes and 1 decime were minted in both copper and brass and were the same size as the earlier French coins (France was not minting th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Blanc
François Blanc (; 12 December 1806 – 27 July 1877), nicknamed "The Magician of Homburg" and "The Magician of Monte Carlo", was a French entrepreneur and operator of casinos, including the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco. His daughter, Marie-Félix, married Prince Roland Bonaparte. Early life François was born on 12 December 1806 with his twin brother Louis. They grew up in a small town and were impressed every time circus came with a show - it seemed so interesting and simple so they followed the circus to learn all the tricks of the trade, boys were dreaming to become rich and successful and learnt so much and worked on different jobs. Career The brothers started to work in gambling business in Marseilles and earning some money brothers decided to develop their business and started to speculate on government pensions and got into real estate development. In that way they attracted attention to their business and were arrested, but not for a long time because law was not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Jagger
Joseph Hobson Jagger (2 September 1830 – 25 April 1892) was an English textile industry businessman from Yorkshire, who in around 1881 is said to have "broken the bank at Monte Carlo" by identifying and exploiting biases in the wheels of the roulette tables there. He used his winnings to buy property in Bradford. In 2018 he was the subject of a biography by his great-great niece Anne Fletcher. Early life and family Joseph Jagger was born at Cock Hill, Shelf, Yorkshire on 2 September 1830. In his youth he worked in the textile trade in Bradford. He married Matilda with whom he had two sons and two daughters.Joseph H Jogger England and Wales Census, 1871. Family Search. Retrieved 20 October 2018. Monte Carlo In the[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Wells (gambler)
Charles De Ville Wells (20 April 1841 - July 1922) was an English gambler and fraudster. In a series of successful gambles in 1891 he broke the bank at Monte Carlo, celebrated by the song " The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo". Subsequently, he was often referred to, especially in the press, as "Monte Carlo Wells". Family and early life Charles De Ville Wells was born in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire on 20 April 1841. His father was Charles Jeremiah Wells (1799-1879), poet and lawyer, to whom John Keats once addressed a sonnet. His mother was Emily Jane Hill, the daughter of a Hertfordshire school teacher. When he was a few weeks old, the family moved from their home in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, to France, where they lived initially at Quimper, and later at Marseille. Career Wells found employment as an engineer at the shipyards and docks of Marseille in the 1860s. In 1868, he invented a device for regulating the speed of ships’ propellers and sold the patent for 5,00 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo (song)
"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (originally titled "The Man that Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo") is a popular British music hall song published in 1891 by Fred Gilbert, a theatrical agent who had begun to write comic songs as a sideline some twenty years previously. The song was popularised by singer and comedian Charles Coborn. The song became a staple of Coborn's act, performed on tour in different languages throughout the world. Coborn confirmed that Gilbert's inspiration was the gambler and confidence trickster Charles Wells. Wells was reported to have won one-and-a-half million francs at the Monte Carlo casino, using the profits from previous fraud. However, others suggested as the model include Joseph Jagger (see Men who broke the bank at Monte Carlo) and Kenneth MacKenzie Clark, father of the art historian Kenneth Clark. Coborn wrote in his 1928 autobiography that to the best of his recollection he first sang the song in 'the latter part of 1891.' An adv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Nelson Darnborough
William Nelson Darnborough (1869–1958) was an American gambler from Bloomington, Illinois, who was known for his success in roulette at Monte Carlo from 1904 to 1911. During that time period he amassed a fortune of $415,000.($11,374,844) in 2020 In one of the more legendary feats, Darnborough bet on the number 5 and won on five successive spins.Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan, ''Chances Are...: Adventures in Probability'', page 60-61. After his wins, Darnborough married a young woman of noble blood, and lived on an estate in England. His son was the film producer Antony Darnborough (1913–2000) and his daughter, the ballerina Hermione Darnborough (1915–2010), married the distinguished composer and director of film music, Muir Mathieson. His granddaughter Fiona Mathieson (1951–1987) played Clarrie Grundy in the BBC radio serial ''The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington is southwest of Chicago, and northeast of St. Louis. The 2020 Census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the 13th most populated city in Illinois, and the fifth-most populous city in the state outside the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Combined with Normal, the twin cities have a population of roughly 130,000. The Bloomington area is home to Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University. It also serves as the headquarters for State Farm Insurance and Country Financial. Geography Bloomington is located at 40°29′03″N 88°59′37″W. The city is at an elevation of above sea level. According to the 2010 census, Bloomington has a total area of , of which (or 99.97%) is land and (or 0.03%) is water. Clim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the color red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18). To determine the winning number, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the outer edge of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum, passes through an area of deflectors, and falls onto the wheel and into one of thirty-seven (single-zero, French or European style roulette) or thirty-eight (double-zero, American style roulette) or thirty-nine (triple-zero, "Sands Roulette") colored and numbered pockets on the wheel. The winnings are then paid to anyone who has placed a successful bet. History The first form of roulette was devised in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to a larger district, the Monte Carlo Quarter (corresponding to the former municipality of Monte Carlo), which besides Monte Carlo/Spélugues also includes the wards of La Rousse/Saint Roman, Larvotto/Bas Moulins and Saint Michel. The permanent population of the ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, while that of the quarter is about 15,000. Monaco has four traditional quarters. From west to east they are: Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine, and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera. Near the quarter's western end is the "world-famous Place du Casino, the gambling center ... that has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British art historian, museum director, and broadcaster. After running two important art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts during the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the ''Civilisation'' series in 1969. The son of rich parents, Clark was introduced to the arts at an early age. Among his early influences were the writings of John Ruskin, which instilled in him the belief that everyone should have access to great art. After coming under the influence of the connoisseur and dealer Bernard Berenson, Clark was appointed director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford aged twenty-seven, and three years later he was put in charge of Britain's National Gallery. His twelve years there saw the gallery transformed to make it accessible and inviting to a wider public. During the Second World War, when the collection was moved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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