The Phantom Gambler

When Bennie Binion was run out of Dallas, TX. and headed for Las Vegas to open a legal casino, he thought his troubles were behind him. For the most part, they were.

Benny had been a dice player. He ran illegal games in Dallas and funded other operations, collecting 25 percent from the gamblers who ran them.

Once he was settled in Las Vegas, he purchased a small plot of land and a casino in the downtown area and called it Binion's Horseshoe. The place had rooms, dice tables, slot machines and a poker room.

While other Las Vegas casinos had limits on what a person could bet, the Horseshoe had NO limits.

On Sept. 14, 1980, a tall rangy man wearing a Stetson walked into the casino carrying two suitcases. One of them contained $777,000 in cash. The man approached the cashier's cage and converted the money into chips. Then he walked up to a dice table and placed all the chips on the backline.

"Roll 'em," he said, betting against the point.

The shooter was a woman. She rattled the dice and threw a six. The stick man pushed the dice back to her and she rolled a nine. Then she blew on the dice, rattled them, and sevened out.

"Pay the backline," the stick man said. The stranger had just won $1.5 million.

He collected his winnings at the cashier's cage, stuffed the money into the empty suitcase, and left the casino. It was the largest amount ever won on a single roll of the dice.

The Los Angeles Times published a story headlined MYSTERY MAN WINS FORTUNE and referred to the winner as the 'Phantom Gambler.'

Jack Binion, Bennie's son, referred to the winner as 'very cool' and added, "He had a lot of gamble in him."

Four years passed.

On March 14, 1984, the Phantom Gambler walked into Binion's Horseshoe again. He was carrying two suitcases and one of them contained $538,000 in cash.

Bennie's son, Ted Binion, was in charge of security. Armed with a loaded .38 revolver, he watched as the stranger approached the cashier's cage and bought $538,000 worth of chips.

The man took the chips to the same dice table, placed the chips on the backline, and nodded to the shooter with the classic words, "Roll 'em."

He won again.

As he was collecting his money, Ted walked up to him and asked his name. The stranger identified himself as William Lee Bergstrom, 33, from Austin, TX. They got to talking and Ted Binion discovered...

...the man had borrowed half of his original $777,000 from a bank in Austin, telling the bank manager he intended to buy gold. He also told Binion that if he lost the bet, he intended to kill himself by taking pills.

On Nov. 16, 1984, Bergstrom returned to the Horseshoe. This time he had $1 million in cash, cashier's checks and Krugerrands. With the Binion's watching him, he bought $1 million in chips and placed them on the backline for the same bet.

The nervous shooter shook the dice -- and rolled a seven.

The man just stood there for a few seconds. Then he walked to a nearby restaurant, picked up some Mexican food, and left.

Five days later, Bergstrom's brother, Alan, received a call. His brother had tried to kill himself with pills and two loaded shotguns at the La Quinta Motel in Austin. He failed and Bergstrom was returned to his family. His father had a long talk with him, trying to console his son.

Months passed. Bergstrom returned to Las Vegas, driving his mother's Buick. He registered at the Marina Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

The management discovered the Phantom Gambler in room 442, dead from an overdose of pills.