In the next round, Alex bet another three hundred thousand dollars on red.
Several guests saw Alex as courageous, but some were unsure. They wondered what he was really up to.
The dealer spun the wheel, and it landed on black.
Alex had lost again.
Some people were starting to turn against Alex, thinking he was being too rash with his money.
Others were laughing, enjoying the spectacle.
After his third loss, Alex was approached by the portly man who reminded him, "Buddy, gambling is all about luck. The more you play, the more likely you are to win! If you keep placing such large bets, you're going to give all your money away without giving yourself a chance to get it back."
Several other people overheard the man and giggled. They wondered who Alex was to feel so blasé about losing money.
"It's okay. I'll win it back later," Alex replied calmly.
By his third bet, a lot of people were standing watching. They all wanted to see how much Alex would lose on the next spin.
Alex placed another three hundred thousand dollars on black and said, "This time I'm going to win."
Of course, no one took him seriously. They all thought he was joking. Everyone knew that winning in a casino was all about luck, and you can't determine your own luck.
"Everyone, place your bets please," called the croupier, smiling to encourage people to play.
While everyone else hesitated, Alex stepped forward and said, "I'll bet again. I must win this time."
By then, Alex had come to the attention of the managers of the casino. They were watching the roulette table and smiling to themselves. This boy would make them rich if he continued to bet so generously.
The croupier spun the wheel, and Alex lost again.
The portly man just couldn't watch him lose any more money. He said "Buddy, don't you think you've lost enough? I think you better stop for tonight."
Alex smiled but placed another three hundred thousand dollars on red. As he placed them on the table, he looked at the plastic chips and thought, They really don't even look like money, just a pile of plastic.
The croupier smiled. He knew that his bosses would be watching and might even give him a bonus for the amount he had won them from this young man.
Alex noticed that the croupier touched something on the underside of the roulette wheel while he was distracting the gamblers. He was a little puzzled about it.
Suddenly, the crowd burst into laughter. Alex realized that the croupier was also starting to take bets from the crowd on whether Alex would win. Almost twenty people had gathered around to bet against Alex.
The croupier spun the wheel, and Alex lost again.
The portly man shook his head sadly. He had come across gamblers like this young man before. They could lose everything they owned but would still continue to gamble. As a result of their addiction, they would get deeper and deeper into debt until finally, their entire families would be ruined. Although the young man in front of him looked confident, the man was worried about him. And he certainly didn't seem willing to listen to any advice.
Most of the crowd thought that Alex was a fool.
The portly man was very anxious and still wanted to help Alex. Although he wasn't a relative, he had a good feeling about Alex and didn't want him to lose everything. He tried to persuade him, "Buddy, for your own good, let's go for a walk."
Alex simply smiled at the man trying to convey to him that he was in control; that he knew what he was doing.
But to the man, Alex seemed to be possessed by the devil. He wouldn't stop gambling.
Alex noticed that the atmosphere in the casino had changed subtly. Previously, he had been surrounded by other gamblers, but now several staff seemed to have congregated around the roulette wheel. They seemed to be persuading the other gamblers to move away so that Alex was the only one continuing to play.
The truth was that the staff had noticed the large bets that Alex was placing, and they wanted him to continue without being persuaded to stop by the other clients. They had also noticed the crowd around him getting very excited, and they wanted to calm things down.
In the next few games, Alex lost almost all of his chips. He hadn't won a single game. How could anyone have such poor luck?
In less than an hour, he had lost five million dollars. No one could believe what they had just witnessed.
The portly man looked at Alex from the other side of the room and sighed. He thought, Oh, that boy was so stupid, I bet he's lost every penny he had. I hope he has somewhere to sleep tonight.
The man was a regular in the casino. Although he never gambled too much himself, he had seen too many ignorant young men like Alex losing all their money.
Now that the crowd had calmed down, the staff moved away, and the other gamblers started to return to watch Alex.
They wanted to see how bad a person's luck could be. Would he not even win a single game?
When they gathered back around the roulette wheel, Alex had only three hundred thousand dollars left. He had lost all the rest.
Alex didn't know that he was being watched from an upper balcony by a somber looking middle-aged man with a cigar in his mouth.
One of the casino croupiers told the man, "Boss, that young man is a fool."
"Well. He's confident but he's clearly stupid," the man commented as he puffed out a cloud of smoke. "We need more people like him to visit the casino every day."
"Boss, I think we should offer to lend him money. It's clear that he still wants to gamble, but he'll have to stop when he runs out of money."
The croupiers were very good at spotting opportunities like that, and lending money to gamblers was common in the casino. If a client wanted to borrow money to continue gambling, they would lend them as much as they wanted. The money would all be going back to the casino anyway. If the debtor couldn't afford to pay back the loan, the casino would ensure they regretted it.
"Yes, but let him lose everything before you approach him." The man knew exactly the best strategy to adopt. The five million dollars that the boy had already lost was an insignificant amount. The real money would be made by the casino when they persuaded him to borrow more. Then, they could take everything his family owned.
Alex was on his last game.
The croupier smiled at him, encouraging him to place another bet.
Without any hesitation, Alex placed the last of his chips on black.
The croupier spun the wheel, and Alex lost again.
The beautiful woman who had first greeted Alex saw what was happening. She approached him and asked politely, "Sir, do you need more chips?"