The controversial Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Dana White (pictured, center) is known for his high stakes gambling habits and his love of Las Vegas casinos.
But in a recent podcast interview with the YouTube channel Full Send, White talked about a crazy winning streak he said he went on at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
The multimillionaire sports businessman says that, between January and March of 2024, he won $27 million playing high stakes baccarat at the casino resort.
White said Caesars let him play for $350,000 a hand – a limit not extended to many. His preferred method on that winning streak was to leave the table whenever he hit more than two wins in a row.
Sometimes, that would be within minutes of sitting down, from which he would walk away with a cool million a night. He also said he sometimes played at MGM Resorts’ Bellagio, which would allow him to play $400,000 hands.
White’s mixed martial arts league, UFC, recently hosted an event in the Las Vegas Sphere. Although it smashed gate receipt records for the league and the venue, White said that the additional costs associated with hosting at the hi-tech arena meant he probably wouldn’t choose to hold a fight night there again.
The Baccarat
High limit baccarat has, in recent years, been one of the more profitable games for casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. But few people have the bankroll to put down $350,000 a hand, combined with the discipline to walk away after two to three winning bets.
“Caesars Palace, I clipped these guys for a million dollars a night,” White said on the podcast.
However, as a gambling game, there will also be losses. White said one night in 2023, he lost $8 million.
“But then you have the nights you get murdered. You have to take the year into account.”
White also claimed that his winning streak was indirectly mentioned in a Caesars Entertainment quarterly earnings call, as the $27 million loss on baccarat impacted their earnings.
He went on to say that around the time he was losing millions a night, Caesars Palace made several big allowances for him. Those included letting him purchase a signed photograph of boxing greats Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier that formerly hung in the casino’s sportsbook.
Dana White’s Gambling
White has been very open about his love for gambling at certain Las Vegas casinos. However, his usually disciplined habit of quitting while ahead has seen him banned from several casinos high limit rooms, including at Wynn Las Vegas.
White is also known to frequent Red Rock Casino Resort in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin. However, he claims he isn’t allowed to gamble with high $350,000 hand limits at the off-Strip casino that is also beloved of high-profile Republicans.
White finished off the gambling discussion in his Full Send interview by outlining his longstanding goal for his gambling career: to spend a night (or several) wagering $1 million a hand.
“That’s my goal. That’s my goal in life before I die,” he said.
In other recent high stakes gambling news from the other side of the coin, a British aristocrat this year reportedly lost $20 million in one night of high stakes poker at a European casino.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
