Joseph Jagger
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, widely known as The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, though he is not the only person to have done so. His name is sometimes reported as Jaggers, but the International Genealogical Index
International Genealogical Index
The International Genealogical Index is a database of genealogical records, compiled from several sources, and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
indicates that Jagger is more likely. He is also said to be a distant cousin of Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
of the Rolling Stones.
Jagger was born in September 1830 in the village of Shelf near Halifax, Yorkshire. Jagger gained his practical experience of mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
working in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
's cotton manufacturing industry. He extended his experience to the behaviour of a roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
wheel, speculating that its outcomes were not purely random sequence
Random sequence
The concept of a random sequence is essential in probability theory and statistics. The concept generally relies on the notion of a sequence of random variables and many statistical discussions begin with the words "let X1,...,Xn be independent random variables...". Yet as D. H. Lehmer stated in...
s but that mechanical imbalances might result in biases toward particular outcomes.
In 1873, Jagger hired six clerks to clandestinely record the outcomes of the six roulette wheels at the Beaux-Arts Casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
at Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. He discovered that one of the six wheels showed a clear bias, in that nine of the numbers (7, 8, 9, 17, 18, 19, 22, 28 and 29) occurred more frequently than the others. He therefore placed his first bets on 7 July 1875 and quickly won a considerable amount of money, £14,000 (equivalent to around 50 times that amount in 2005, or £700,000, adjusted for inflation). Over the next three days, Jagger amassed £60,000 in earnings with other gamblers in tow emulating his bets. In response the casino rearranged the wheels, which threw Jagger into confusion. After a losing streak, Jagger finally recalled that a scratch he noted on the biased wheel wasn't present. Looking for this telltale mark, Jagger was able to locate his preferred wheel and resumed winning. Counterattacking again, the casino moved the frets, metal dividers between numbers, around daily. Over the next two days Jagger lost and gave up, but he took his remaining earnings, two million francs, then about £65,000 (around £3,250,000 in 2005), and left Monte Carlo never to return.
Jagger resigned from his job at the mill and invested his money in property. He is buried at Bethel Chapel, Halifax Road, Shelf.
In 1892, Fred Gilbert wrote a popular song, The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (song)
"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" is a popular British music hall song of the 19th century, written in 1892 by Fred Gilbert. Gilbert confirmed that his inspiration was the gambler and confidence trickster Charles Wells, who won over a million francs at the Monte Carlo casino, using the...
, that is mistakenly attributed to Jagger's exploits. Instead, the song commemorates Charles Wells
Charles Wells (gambler)
Charles Deville Wells , gambler and confidence trickster, is one of the men who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, made famous by the song...
, another Englishman, who in 1891 won handsomely in Monte Carlo. The song was popularised by music hall star Charles Coborn
Charles Coborn
Charles Coborn was a British music hall singer and comedian born in Stepney, east London.He was born Charles Whitton McCallum, and adopted his stage name from Coborn Road, near Mile End...
.
An episode of the television show CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
was based on Jagger's motives in Monte Carlo, albeit retold with a Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
theme.
In the game Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas is a first person action role-playing video game in the Fallout series developed by Obsidian Entertainment, and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is based in a post-apocalyptic environment in and around Las Vegas, Nevada...
there is an achievement for being kicked out of every casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The achievement is known as "the Courier who broke the bank", referencing both Joseph and successful gambler Charles Wells.