Are you wondering about Dana White’s Blackjack Gambling?
In this article, we’ll look at Dana White’s blackjack gambling successes, getting banned from casinos, the strategy he uses, and any other Dana White gambling escapades.
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Dana White Blackjack Gambling
Dana White is a notorious blackjack gambler who’s been banned 4 times from 3 different casinos in Las Vegas for winning millions of dollars.
While there’s much speculation about why he gets banned, ultimately it’s because he wins big and casinos only want losers to play. Dana White has been referred to as a blackbelt in blackjack.
Joe Rogan explained on his podcast that in a single night, Dana White has lost as much as $1 million and won as much as $7 million.
He’s a serious player and he only goes to the casino to win, and win big. He’s not interested in alcohol or socializing with friends, he literally sees his time at the casino playing blackjack as a part-time job outside of the UFC.
How Does Dana White Win Blackjack Gambling?
Dana White’s blackjack gambling successes have meant he’s been tight-lipped around how he actually plays the game. Why would he give away his formula? This would only make casinos more likely to restrict or ‘ban’ him.
It’s highly likely he has a great reading of the game and has an intuition of when to bet bigger and when to reduce his stake.
He also only plays at casinos where he has no limit on his bets, leading people to believe he follows the martingale betting system. This is a simple system where the bettor doubles down on every losing bet until they win.
For example, if you bet $5,000 and lose, you’ll then bet $10,000. If you lose the 10 you’ll bet $20,000, and so on.
There may be times he has lost a few hands in a row and has read the game enough to know the probability of him winning the next hand based on the previous cards coming out of the deck (card counting).
He’ll then bet even bigger than double at times, and if he wins, he’ll have recouped all the losses from his previous hands and be in the green. Now he’s in the green, he’ll simply return to lower stakes and repeat the process, knowing the best times to bet bigger.
He also wins because of how he plays. He’s known for leaving early if he’s in profit and this helps him win because it reduces the casino’s odds of winning based on the long term.
The house always has an edge and over a long enough time frame, they always win. To counter this, Dana often leaves early when he’s in profit.
Is Dana White Banned From Casinos?
Dana White isn’t necessarily banned from any casinos. Due to the large amounts he’s won, a few casinos have restricted his betting limits or won’t allow him to play blackjack, because they hate to lose.
Here are the three casinos where Dana White has been restricted or told he’s not welcome:
Palm Springs Casino
His casino bans started in 2012 with the Palm Springs Casino. He won a total of $1.6 million from the casino when the Maloof family were the majority owners.
With a change of ownership, the new owners reduced Dana White’s betting limit by 50% and asked him to stop playing there.
This caused Dana White to retaliate by removing the formerly hosted UFC events from the Palm Springs’ Pearl Theater and switching them to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
22 months later, Palm Springs sent Dana White a $5,000 bottle of wine, inviting him to come back and play with his usual credit line and betting limits.
His usual betting unit was $25,000 per hand, which led him to win roughly $2 million over a three-month period after being invited back.
They again capped his betting to $5,000 per hand and eventually handed him his walking papers (severely restricted hand limits).
They gave him a better sending-off this time around, handing him a PALMS undisputed blackjack champion belt in the style of the classic UFC belts.
The Mirage & The Wynn
There isn’t any information on when and why the Mirage and the Wynn restricted Dana White’s betting limits and asked him not to play, but it’s likely to be because he was winning a lot of money from them by having limitless betting options.
Dana White’s Favorite Casinos
After being asked not to play at several casinos, Dana White revealed he can only play at the Venetian, the Bellagio, and his favorite casino, Caesars Palace.
Caesars Palace is his favorite casino because they have no limits on bets, don’t sweat their losses, let you play what you want, and look after players exceptionally well.
Was Dana White Counting Cards?
After his ban from the Palms Casino Resort for the second time, many speculated Dana White was banned for card counting.
Counting cards are used during blackjack to determine the amount of high and low cards that have come out of the deck. The player’s odds of winning are higher if there have been more low-value cards (1-6) seen and there are more high-value cards (10) left in the deck.
Lower value cards have a + running count, so if the running count is higher a blackjack player will up their bet because the odds are now in their favor. It’s more complicated than this but this is the basics of basic blackjack strategy.
However, counting cards isn’t illegal and it only marginally puts the odds in favor of a player by 1% or so. Even so, Dana White said, ‘ “A lot of people are going to think I’m a card counter after that Ben Affleck thing at the Hard Rock. I’m the farthest thing from a card counter.” ‘
While counting cards isn’t illegal, if a player is winning a lot of money and a casino knows they’re counting cards, they reserve the right to refuse service to whoever they please.
It’s easy for casinos to tell if players are counting cards because they have cameras and personnel watching everything.
Dana White Gambling on Sports
Not only does Dana White blackjack gamble, but he also bets on sports – with much less success.
In an interview with ESPN, Dana White revealed he’d lost $1 million betting on a boxing match between Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor. Dana bet on the favorite Taylor to win, but he lost via TKO in the seventh round.
Dana White also called himself a degenerate gambler but admitted to loving sports betting because of how it adds excitement to a sport. It’s no surprise then that UFC fighters can bet on themselves, with Dana White as the president and the promotion’s home being Las Vegas.
More recently, Dana White won $40,000 in 2021 by betting $100,000 on Canelo Alvarez to beat Caleb Plant by knockout, which he did in round 11.
The Bottom Line
Dana White loves blackjack gambling and is well-known for his success with a night of cards. Some have questioned whether Dana White is a gambling addict, especially since he’s literally called blackjack his part-time job.
However, it’s clear to see Dana White’s gambling isn’t a problem as he’s winning and his commitment and focus to the UFC are unwavering.
