It’s no news that famous musicians earn a great deal of money and often have plenty of free time to kill. Many of them choose to indulge in gambling when they are not making music. You can see these artistes placing regular bets on popular sports events and playing all kinds of casino games, ranging from poker, blackjack, roulette to everything in between.
Now that the majority of gambling happens on the Internet, at reputed online sports betting and casino portals, you can see many of these rock stars actively placing their wagers on the Internet. Let’s acquaint you with some such famous musicians who are not just popular in the music world, but are excellent gamblers too.
Lemmy, Motorhead
Anyone who is a Motorhead fan would know about Lemmy’s love for gambling. The bassist and vocalist of Motorhead, who passed away in 2015, was a top-rated musician and a great lover of card games and slot machines. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ace of Spades was one of the most famous songs of the band, which Lemmy co-wrote. It evolved into one of the greatest hits of the group. Lemmy had admitted at one point of time that the song had only references to card games as it would have been very difficult for them to write a rock number on one-armed bandits.
Scott Ian, Anthrax
While he co-founded Anthrax in 1977 and remains the only member of the original band till date, not many people know that Scott Ian, the famed guitarist, is also a well-known poker player. Scott discovered his love for the card game as he used to play only for fun on the tour bus during the 1980s. As his love grew for the game, he started playing in big poker events like Aruba Poker Classic, rubbing shoulders with the best poker players on the planet. Today, Scott is a celebrity poker player and recognized everywhere for both his music and poker skills. In fact, he once hosted an exclusive online poker tournament involving Pantera’s Vinnie Paul, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell and former guitarist of Guns and Roses, Slash. The World Poker champion Annie Duke and World Series of Poker Winner Phil Hellmuth also played in that event.
Gladys Knight
While a great multitude of musicians gamble only for fun and excitement involved in wagering money on uncertain events, it cannot be denied that they can afford the losses. Gladys Knight ran into major problems at one point of time as she had no idea where to put a full stop on her gambling habits. She wrote in her autobiography that she was a compulsive sports bettor and baccarat player for almost a decade, before finally getting a hold on her gambling habits.
The Empress of Soul who is best recognized for her songs like Midnight Train to Georgia and Neither One of Us, is now back and was happily enjoying life in all possible ways. However, it’s still not clear if she still gambles in moderation or not.