How UFC Boss Dana White Got Himself a Casino Ban for Playing Blackjack Too Well

Dana White is best known to the general public as the director of a multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment industry, the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With all of the responsibilities he most certainly has as the president of such a large organization, he has also managed to find the time to hone his blackjack skills — аnd boy, has he done it!

Regardless of whether White embarked on his card game journey with the help of a professional blackjack mentor or by using online guides such as blackjack tips by the TwinSpires Edge, the UFC boss has turned out to be a passionate and successful blackjack player.

He used to be a regular player at one of the most popular Las Vegas casinos for more than a decade. In fact, Palms Casino welcomed the magnate when it first opened in 2001, and he is said to have wagered some serious high-roller amounts — up to $25,000 per hand. Not only was Palms Casino one of the favorite gambling destinations for White, but the resort also hosted 15 consecutive UFC season finales.

The year 2012 saw a huge downward shift in this blooming relationship, when White won a blackjack game that cost the casino $2 million. The institution responded by limiting Dana’s activities at the tables, and he, in turn, pulled the UFC fights from the premises.

Needless to say, White got frustrated by the fact that he could no longer play the high-roller amounts he had become used to, which led him to seek a new blackjack haven in Caesar’s.

However, Palms Casino must have realized what a terrible mistake it had made, as the casino’s new management made attempts at reconciliation two years later. Whatever they did clearly worked since White and his high-roller stakes were back at Palms blackjack tables in no time.

Sadly, the rekindled romance didn’t last long. It wasn’t even six months later that the famed casino limited White’s stakes at $5,000 and eventually banned him entirely. The event that led to this decision was White winning a whopping $5 million on a single occasion.

Although there has been a lot of conjecture regarding these events, one thing is for sure — Dana White is a terrific blackjack player. In fact, some people even attribute his gambling obsession to the addictive personality that develops as a result of brain damage in many boxers. However, these accounts have not been confirmed by the UFC president.

Still, he has remained adamant that his blackjack success is definitely not the result of card counting, as it was in the case of another celebrity blackjack player, Ben Affleck. White has even stated on one occasion, “I’m the farthest thing from a card counter.”