whale

n. a serious, heavily funded bettor; a high roller. Subjects: English, Animals, Insects, & Birds, Gambling, Slang

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Citations: 1990 Robert Johnson Wall Street Journal (June 28) p. A1: In the parlance of the casino industry, a huge bettor like Mr. Kashiwagi is a “whale,” which surely makes Mr. Trump his Ahab. 2004 Joe Drape New York Times (Apr. 26) “Horse Racing’s Biggest Bettors Are Reaping Richest Rewards”: In horseplaying parlance, Maury Wolff is a whale, one of the thousand or so professional bettors who collectively wager as much as $1.5 billion a year on thoroughbred races in the United States. He will not attend the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday. In fact, he and the other whales rarely set foot in a racetrack. 2005 Adam Levy, Jeannine DeFoe Bloomberg.com (Mar. 2) “Harrah’s, MGM Mirage Duel for Supremacy on the Las Vegas Strip”: Lanni courts the casino’s best clients—“whales,” in industry parlance—taking semiannual trips to Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Singapore, where he hosts as many as three dinners in one night. 2005 Suzette Parmley @ Atlantic City, N.J. Philadelphia Inquirer (Pa.) (Mar. 11) “Upping the ante in Atlantic City”: Anthony Patrone, president of marketing at Resorts, said the range of available funds for players at the blackjack tournament last weekend was from $25,000 to $300,000. “Mini-whales,” as he calls them. Whales is casino slang for gamblers who can lose millions.

Posted 26 Apr 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend