The extravagant and lavish lifestyle of Hollywood celebrities strikes most as bizarre. Media reports about the megastars include multiple adoptions, farming, BDSM, charity and substance abuse, all of it is weird although the stars find these beautiful attributes to their Hollywood personas. What most don’t often allow to reach the media is their favourite time-killing habit, which is gambling and sports betting.

There are a vast number of Hollywood celebrities that uses a huge chunk of their massive earning to place bets on sports or gaming at casinos. The more prominent gamblers of the stars might be what surprises you most, we bet you’d be baffled by the names.

Ashton Kutcher Won $750,00 on Sports Betting.

One he was Mila Kunis’s lover, it was also at the same time as he was part of the largest USA sports betting organization. He admitted that he was involved with professional sports bettors who were knowledgeable about how the whole sports betting system works. All in he declared that he cleared around $750,000 on betting.

Matt Damon, Had to Gamble in Preparation for his Role

Whether or not it is true that he only gamble in preparation for his significant role is for you to decide. What Damon later revealed is that he got himself into a real lousy spending habit as he would place bets worth up to $25,000 on the big games.

Not many believe that it all started as the Private Ryan star tells; there are a few other ways to get familiarized with poker. But we’d pretend to accept him for now as many other facts indicate it was not his first visit to casinos. It might have been the start of him falling madly in love with the highly appealing game.

Everything is revealed in the end when you learn more about Damon that is continuously accused of illegal gambling in the most secluded venues. He loves playing casino games from closed hotel rooms, and his winnings are not publicly available.

Route 66 Ride of Bruce Willis

He is known for enjoying every moment of blowing up buildings in Die Hard, Bruce Willis plays hard and this though guy never brags about his winnings. Rumour has it that Willis snagged up a baccarat win worth $500,000 in Atlantic City. This took place during the Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight night.

He also enjoys a big win when he was getting ready for his role in Route 66, his buy-in was $5,000 which he increased to $9,000, and at the end of the round, Bruce Willis left with winning worth $25,000. His favourite game is craps, and as with Matt Damon, his winnings are not available to the public.

Other film starts that likes betting is 50 Cent, Tobey Maguire and the most notorious gambler of them all is Ben Affleck although there is also a lot of rumours about Jennifer Tilly’s great passion for poker and big winnings worth $158,625!

Gambling can be a fun pastime or a serious business. It remains an entertainment form in which people entrusts their money to the whims of luck and fate. You can bet on anything from sports events to online casino games, horse racing to the name of the next royal baby and even the outcome of elections. It is all based on the belief that you have a chance no matter how small to enjoy a victory. Some have won tons of cash others were not as lucky, and there were the scandals of gambling, which were massive.

In the USA one of the Biggest Scandals was the Chicago Black Sox.

Sports always offered a field of honour to men and women; it measures endurance, the power to achieve and strength. It is an honour to be a sports legend, and the worst of all is corruption allegation that puts a stain on some of the most promising athletes.

Sports betting is mostly involved when such issues arise as some of the teams are favourites and betting is the most loved past-time of millions. In the United States of America, the biggest scandal of all times happened in 1919. It was the World Series Finals of Baseball. The most energetic baseball team was the Chicago White Sox. They enjoyed a sensational season, the club was considered the favourites when the next match was against the Cincinnati Reds, although the team lost, and it was now the eight game.

A Flood of Bets Just Before the Game and Soon Reporters Heard Why

Only later it all became clear although most still wanted to believe that the players were innocent. What happened is that the eight players of the White Sox team came together and conspired to throw the finals. The prize was a huge profit [aid by Arnold Rothstein, the notorious gangster of Chicago. Right before the match, there was a flood of bets on the weaker team, which was the Cincinnati Reds and rumours quickly spread about what was to happen next. The rumours quickly reached the ears of news reporters.

Match-Fixing Mess of the White Six of Chicago

It was the start of many suspicions and the whole season, and rumours and doubts heavily plagued the one that followed until a jury was assembled to investigate thoroughly. The first one to confess was Knuckles Eddie Cicotte the pitcher, and it was then only a matter of time before the investigators unravelled the whole match-fixing mess. At the time no one went to jail for the defrauding, although eight players now called the Black Sox were banned for life from baseball, and they could never hope on entry into the Hall of Game. It is deeply engraved into the sports culture of America, and several films and books were inspired by it.

Books such as The Godfather is based on the event, and once Arnold Rothstein fixed the world series, Human Roth said to Michael Corleone, since then he loves the game.

It was December 1947 when Bill France Sr. organized a meeting in Daytona Beach to discuss NASCAR. This day can be considered as the birth of NASCAR. It was only a few months later that Red Byron wins the first NASCAR race in Daytona Beach. June of 1949 the “Strictly Stock” NASCAR race was held. This is what we know today as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. During this race, Sara Christians came in 14th, and she becomes the first female to take part in NASCAR’s premier division. A lot has changed since those days. Today there are 23 NASCAR race tracks in America. The sport remains driven by excitement and adrenaline pumped by the roars on the speedway.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Since 1960 Atlanta is home to NASCAR. The speedway is like most others 1.5 miles long. Between 2009 and 2014 the road was host to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Labor Day Weekend. Due to the move in 2009 from hosting the event on Labor Day rather than in October meant that the race starting time also changed and it became the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series which was held under the lights of the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Atlanta had it all, and other race tracks aspired to be just like Atlanta. It was all about the best racing hospitality, sightlines and smooth running.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Like everything else in or close to Vegas, this track delivers a great show. This track is host to a couple of NASCAR events annually. The highest lap record ever set on the track’s asphalt is 226.491 mph set by Arie Luyendyk during the 1996 IndyCar Series. The speedway had a long history before it was purchased in 1989 by the Imperial Palace’s Ralph Engelstad. It was renamed then to be called the Las Vegas Speedway. In 1996 Engelstad in conjunction with William Bennett of Sahara Hotel built a superspeedway on the same premises at the price of $72 million. In September that year, the first IndyCar event took place and later in November of the same year the first NASCAR Truck Series was hosted. In 1998 the track was sold for $215 million to the Speedway Motorsports group. Memorable moments include the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series when Kurt Busch tested a stock car on the surface.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The racing capital of the world. Home to the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400, the annual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series since 1994. This was also home to the United States Grand Prix up until about 2012. The track length is 2.5 miles long and was built in 1909. The stadium has a seating capacity of 257 325, which makes it the sports venue with the highest-capacity in the world. Some of the other records for this stadium includes Kevin Harvick with a record lap time for NASCAR at this track at 188.88mph in 2014.

Lake Powell is the second largest human-made reservoir in the United States. It is situated on the Colorado River and is bordering both Arizona and Utah. This lake attracts over two million visitors annually. It is a popular water sports destination. The lake, which is 300 kilometre in length, has a shoreline of 3 150 kilometres. Lake Powell is smaller than Lake Mead in capacity, yet it often exceeds Lake Mead. This is due to the high levels of water withdrawal from Lake Mead as well as regular droughts in the area.

History

Lake Powell was created when Glen Canyon was flooded from water in the Glen Canyon Dam. The reservoir was built in 1963. It is named after John Wesley Powell, an American Civil War veteran with only one arm. He explored the river in 1869 with nothing but three wooden boats. The reservoir was built as water storage to the Upper Basin states of the Colorado River. These include Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. In lesser amount water is also supplied to Arizona, California and Nevada.

Geological Importance

Over an estimated period of five million years, the Colorado River carved out Glen Canyon through the Colorado Plateau. The Plateau exists of many layers of different rock formations, some of which are more than 300 million years old. The sidewalls of the canyon are hence a showpiece of the geological wonder. It shows evidence of volcanic activity of ages ago. It is also displaying the geological history of the region with different formations visible to visitors.

Recreational Facility

Lake Powel is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and is managed by National Park services. So, their rules and regulations should be adhered to when visiting Lake Powell. The temperatures at Lake Powell often rise above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, swimming and other water sports are favourite activities.

Do to take note that there are no designated beaches for swimming at the reservoir. No lifeguards are on duty, so swimming is on own risk. Regulations also stipulate that no jumping off any object would be allowed. The lake has many other activities on offer, including kayaking, boating, and fishing. It is home to a large variety of fish types.

These include different bass types, common carp, Northern pikes and Sunfish and is, thus, a popular fishing destination. For those who prefer to stay on dry land, the surrounding areas offer great camping sites. It has many roads for mountain biking trips. The Lake Powell shoreline is off limits for any vehicle, including mountain bikes.

The Park has no hiking trails which they maintain for hikers, but visitors are welcome to hike into the bare nature of non-developed areas. The scenery can also be explored by car on the Hole-in-the-Rock road or Burr Trail. Lake Powell is a human-made wonder surrounded by mysterious natural phenomena. It is offering visitors the opportunity to explore nature untouched.