Longform

In 2007, Harrah’s made 5.6 percent of its total Las Vegas revenue off a single person: Terrance Watanabe.

A story of gambling addiction, in seven parts.

“On a small scale, Titanic Thompson is an American legend. I say on a small scale, because an overpowering majority of the public has never heard of him. That is the way Titanic likes it. He is a professional gambler. He has sometimes been called the gambler’s gambler.”

In 1980, a bankrupt gambler came up with a plan to get his money back. He built an incredibly complex bomb, one that was impossible to defuse and that only he knew how to move, and snuck it into a Lake Tahoe casino with an extortion note demanding $3 million. Part of the plan worked. Part of it did not.

How Billy Walters, the world’s most successful gambler, keeps winning.

On playing chess and waiting to get arrested.

“Again I ask, Is this really the way the American people want it to be?”

The men who say they’ll try to save the once-bustling gambling resort town.