A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to entice them onto the gambling floors, such as free

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more personal ...

transfers,

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

use and use of the casinos' best suites. Casinos may also extend credit to a player to continue betting, and offer rebates on betting turnover or losses; and contracts of employees may also contain incentive arrangements to bring in high rollers. The definition of a high roller varies. At Crown Casino in Australia, for example, it involves bringing between AUD$50,000 and $75,000 to the table. High roller players often have very high

table limit The table limit is the minimum and maximum bet that a gambler can make at a gaming table. It is a form of yield management in that the limits can be changed to optimize the profit from a gaming table. Gaming tables have a limited resource to se ...

s, allowing the high roller exclusive use. Casinos compete on bet limits. In Australia limits of AUD$300,000 are common, in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

they are between US$150,000 and $300,000, and in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

they are up to US$500,000. Only richer casinos can accommodate high-stakes gambling due to the volatility of results. High rollers may also be subject to exceptions from various rules and regulations; for example the high roller rooms at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia are the only licensed venue in the state not subject to a ban on smoking. High rollers are said to provide only a small fraction of casino business.

John Eidsmoe John A. Eidsmoe is an American attorney and professor of law emeritus. He has previously taught at the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, the O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University (O ...

, in his book ''Legalized Gambling: America's Bad Bet'', claims that it is actually gamblers from the lower and lower-middle classes in the United States that provide much of the gambling money. "The occasional wealthy 'high roller' does indeed exist, but he is the exception, not the standard. The fact that more than 50% of Nevada's gambling income comes from

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

s as opposed to the card tables should be an indication high rollers are not the main source of revenue." There have been many cases around the world where high rollers have committed

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

to provide funds for gambling beyond their means, after becoming seduced by the lifestyle. This was the case with famed gambler

Terrance Watanabe Terrance Watanabe is an American businessman and high roller who inherited Oriental Trading Company, a direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties and school supplies founded by his father Harry Watanabe. T ...

, who reputedly lost over $220 million in Las Vegas over a 5-year period, and was ultimately sued by Caesars Entertainment for failing to pay up on markers he took out during the binge totaling $14.75 million. Related to high rollers are "low rollers", a loosely defined term whose meaning changes with context. This can be anything from a casino regular patron who nevertheless wagers very low amounts of money — perhaps just enough to participate in casino loyalty programs and "comps" — to any average low-spending tourist.

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* {{Game-stub Gambling terminology

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