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Historical Bets That Paid Off

BEATING THE ODDS Through History Incredible things can happen when people are willing to risk it allI. AMERICA'S BREAKAWAY FROM BRITISH RULE Royal Flush 176 THE GAMBLE: The Declaration of Independence was sure to spark a war with England THE OUTCOME: The United States is formed after eight hard-fought years Americans celebrate their freedom on July 4th, but the majority of Declaration signers put their quill to paper on August 2nd NAPOLEON'S FAIL - SELLS OFF LOUISIANA PURCHASE FOR $15 MILLION or 4C AN ACRE THE GAMBLE Jackpot 1803 Napoleon bets war and conquest of England is worth more to France than the control of the gold-rich North American territory THE OUTCOME: America doubles in size, and Napoleon doesn't rule the world America doubles down in size for a cool $15 million and the rest is history CHARLES LINDBERGH'S SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC THE GAMBLE The flight would take 33 hours and traverse 3,500 miles of open ocean through poor weather and near-total darkness Ace "is" High 1927 THE OUTCOME: Lindbergh lands in Paris a hero and becomes a world-famous.celebrity toUIs Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of Saint Louis, flew without lights, a windshield, or a radio to cut down on weight GUY MCAFEE TRANSFORMS THE VEGAS STRIP TO A DESTINATION THE GAMBLE House Rules 1939 McAfee, a LAPD vice commander on the run for his not-so-secret mob ties, takes over the quiet Pair-0-Dice nightclub in Nevada THE OUTCOME: Having more luck with legal casinos, McAfee's second venture The Golden Nugget in 1946 becomes the world's largest casino-transforming the Vegas strip into a popular travel destination CC BY 2.0 @RUSSAVIA Today the Golden Nugget houses the Hand of Faith, the world's largest gold nugget weighing in at 64 lbs G.I. JOE SAVES THE DAY.AS A CARRIER PIGEON THE GAMBLE: With communication blacked out, the British regiment trapped in the village Going All In1943 put their faith in a United States Army Pigeon named G.I. Joe to call off the Allies' bombers before it was too late G.I. Joe flies 20 miles in 20 minutes, making it to the ally base with the message just as the bombers are about to take off THE OUTCOME: 100 British lives are credited to G.I. Joe, who was stuffed and put on display in a museum in New Jersey FEDEX RISKS IT ALL ON BLACKJACK THE GAMBLE All in 1971 Down to his company's last dollar, FedEx CEO Frederick W. Smith takes an impromptu flight to Vegas and hits the blackjack tables in an effort to save the company with the its last $5,000 THE OUTCOME: Smith wins $27,000-enough to cover a $24,000 fuel bill CC BY 2.0 @CONTRI FEDEX FEDERAL EXPRESS Now FedEx is #65 on the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $55 billion a year AOL/TIME WARNER: YOU'VE GOT FAIL! 1999 THE GAMBLE Turner's Time Warner merges with AOL in a staggering $350 billion stock deal Bust Two years later, AOL Time Warner reports a loss of $98.7 billion for the year, with Turner losing his job and $7 billion as stock prices tumble THE OUTCOME: AOL -VO CAN Coot cted! 3 MA 3 MON ONE YE ABONNE 540 HEURES O AOL TITANIUN CANA NEW& IMPROVED 6.0 THRE MONT améliore 540 HEURES HOURS ERE AOL Time Warner's 2002 report is the largest annual loss in history NO EXPERIENCE, NO BUDGET = ONE OF THE BIGGEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME THE GAMBLE With no experience in filmmaking, Peli invests $15,000 and just weeks of work to make a movie Beginner's Luck 2007 THE OUTCOME: Paranormal Activity attracts the attention of Hollywood and goes on to gross $193 million-becoming the most profitable movie of all time CC BY SA 4.0 @BryanMartinez12354 Peli had help from famous director Steven Spielberg, who suggested the twist ending which opened the door for possible sequels TURNING DOWN $3 BILLION? THE GAMBLE: Snapchat founder, Evan Spiegel, bets his two-year-old Know When to Hold'em U13 messaging app is worth more than a 10 figure check THE OUTCOME: Snapchat is valued at $19 Billion in mid-2015, with no plans of slowing down CC BY 2.0 @TechCrunch THE 2011 CRUNCHIES 400 million snaps are sent out on the app each day As history and these examples show, FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD These innovators aren't afraid to take a chance and roll the dice SOURCES Presented by http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/paris.8sp http://www.radiolab.org/story/110193-birds-eye-view http://www.goldennugget com/lasvegas/pdt/GN_PressKit, pdf http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=paranormalactivity.htm http://www.pbs.org/wgoh/amex/lasvegas/peopleevents/p_clark.html http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/8-things-didnt-know-fourth-july http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/nov/30/paranormal-activity-oren-peli http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/18/technology/snapchat-19-billion-valuation http://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-saved-from-bankruptcy-with-blackjack-winnings 2014-7 http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-louisiana-purchase-changed-the-world-79715124/?all http://www.businessinsider.com/how-lightspeeds-jeremy-liew-invests-in-startups-like-snapchat-2013-12 CasinosOnline.com DEVELOPED BY N NOWSOURCING

Historical Bets That Paid Off

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Learn more about historical bets that paid off in spades, such as the first transatlantic flight. Go big or go home!

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