23 Nov

Legendary Australian Gambler Kerry Packer: A Life of Excess

Kerry Packer with son James Packer

Kerry Packer and son James Packer, photo AP

Imagine walking into a huge casino, dropping millions of dollars on the roulette wheel, and losing it all. What would you do? Chances are you wouldn’t walk out of the casino with your head held high, not a care in the world. But such was the life of legendary Australian gambler Kerry Packer.

The name should sound familiar. The billionaire media tycoon was the kingpin of the ‘Packer Empire‘ for three decades. He inherited Australian Consolidated Press and Nine Network from his father, Frank Packer, in 1974, and merged the two into Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) in 1994.

Kerry Packer continued to control those interests until he passed away in 2005 due to kidney failure, at which time the Packer dynasty was passed on to his son – a man all you millennials out there will surely recognize – James Packer, who now controls Australia’s Crown Resorts.

Kerry Packer the Gambler

While Packer’s business life was fairly straight forward, his casino exploits were much more insouciant. When it came to gambling, he was so flagrant with his wealth that he earned the nickname Prince of Whales.

Australian Gambler Kerry PackerKerry’s legendary romps amid the largest casinos in London and Las Vegas began in the early 1980s, and always seemed to involve millions of dollars switching hands. He was the highest betting gambler in the world during those days, wagering more than any of the oil sheiks or Asian rollers who frequented the casinos.

According to eyewitness accounts, Kerry Packer was at the Ritz in 1987 where he took control of a private room, playing two blackjack tables at once. He was dealt all seven hands at both tables, wagering £10,000 (AU$24k) per hand and moving back and forth between the tables to manage it all.

Each time his stack ran dry, he wrote another £200,000 (AU$473k) cheque to fill it back up. He finally tired of writing so many cheques and started buying larger stacks at £1 million a pop. By the time he was done, he had lost £19 million.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, he also dropped £15 million playing four roulette wheels at another major London casino during the 1990s. He exited the casino without a care, as if that £15 million were nothing to him.

And it wasn’t, really. After all, Packer was named the wealthiest man in Australia, said to be worth AU$6.5 billion at one point.

But Kerry Packer wasn’t known as a consistent loser. In fact, casinos were often terrified when he walked through their doors. If he had a bad night, it did wonders for the casino’s profits, but when he had a good run, it could be enough to destroy an entire operation.

Legend has it – although unconfirmed – Kerry was responsible for the closure of London’s exclusive Aspinalls Casino in May 1990. As the story goes, Packer had been in the casino one week prior, taking them for so much money he effectively broke its bank.

He was eventually banned from London’s Crockford Casino for winning too much money. According to Trevor Kennedy, Packer’s right-hand-man at the office, Kerry took Crockford for “about 10 million quid” before the casino decided it had lost enough to the Australian tycoon.

Kennedy also revealed that, although his mood never seemed out of sorts when he left a casino after losing millions of dollars, he was terribly cranky afterwards. His temper often showed at the office the next morning, where he would angrily seek out people to sack on the false pretext that his employees were standing around instead of working.

Packer’s biggest mistake, however, was chasing losses, and that was something that made most casinos eagerly delighted when they heard he was coming (an aide generally called ahead to make sure he would be well taken care of).

In 1991, he spent a long night scooping US$7 million from the Hilton in Las Vegas. Unperturbed, the casino actually built a special room just for him to gamble in, winning back its losses – and then some – the following year in a two-day session that saw Packer drop US$10 million.

Winning Streaks Led To Generosity in Vegas

When things were going his way, Kerry was an incredibly generous man when he could be. Extravagant tips aren’t allowed in London or Australia casinos, but they are in Las Vegas.

One of his most famous trips to Sin City saw him win US$20 million from the MGM Grand before deciding to expand his blackjack game across multiple tables. He played all 8 seats at once, and for $250k a piece. His bankroll rose to $25 million in less than an hour, so he left a massive $1 million tip for the blackjack dealers to split before walking out.

On another rendezvous in Vegas, Packer purchased a Mercedes Benz just to travel around in. He subsequently gave it to the valet who retrieved the luxury car for him before he left. He’s also said to have given a female roulette croupier $150k to pay off her mortgage after learning she was deeply in debt.