‘It Starts to Ramp Up’: Dana White Recalls Losing USD 3 Million During Alcohol Influenced Gambling Night

UFC CEO Dana White is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world. He has taken MMA from being called ‘human cockfighting’ to one of the most popular sports in the world.

White is highly regarded for his accomplishments in the business world. Nevertheless, just like everyone else, he has his flaws. In White’s situation, gambling is a significant vice, resulting in him losing substantial sums of money on certain occasions.

Dana White recalls his biggest gambling loss

Dana White has lost hefty amounts in gambling. The UFC CEO lost over USD 1 million after betting on Jermain Taylor to beat Kelly Pavlik in a boxing match. However, that isn’t his biggest loss to date.

In a recent appearance on Lex Fridman’s podcast, White recalled the time he lost USD 3 million in a night. He was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the loss. White said (via FIghtful):

“You live, and you learn in life; you figure things out as you go along. One night, I’m over at the Rio, and they’ve got big suites over there, so I go over there with some buddies and we got one of the suites, and we have some dinner and we start drinking. So we’re having some drinks, dinner, and blah, blah, blah. It starts to ramp up. I’m having a good time and I make my way down to the high-limit room, and we start gambling. I continued to drink, having a blast. I ended up leaving to go home that night, and I lost, like, 80 grand.”

Revealing his thoughts next morning, White said:

“So I wake up the next morning, I’m like, ‘F***. Those m*********** got me for 80,000 last night.” 

White then proceeded to call the casino to warn them that he’d get his money back. However, an unexpected news awaited, as the UFC CEO learned that he squandered around USD 3 million, much more than what he anticipated. White said:

 “No, I don’t need the room, but don’t get too comfortable with my f****** 80 grand; I’m coming back for it.” 

Speaking about the host’s reaction, White said:

“Dead f****** silence on the other end of the phone. And he’s like, ‘Dana. You lost $3 million last night.’”

White countered saying that his credit line had a limit of USD 1.5 million. However, the host informed him that White made them call the hotel GM and placed bets of almost double that amount.

Dana White’s message for gamblers who lose money

Plenty of people visiting Vegas end up drinking too much. Sometimes, as a result, they end up putting way too much money into gambling and losing it in the process. White, however, has claimed that nobody else other than the person himself is accountable for such a loss. 

He said:

“You know, there’s been a lot of cases where people are in Vegas and they’re like, ‘I lost all this money. They were giving me free drinks and I drank too much and I was taken advantage of,’”. “No, you stupid m***********. Man up, You got f****** drunk. Alcohol is free, but you don’t have to f****** drink it.”

Dana White holds a major share in the UFC, a company valued at over USD 4 billion. Hence, a loss of USD 3 million might not be too much for him to handle. However, the lumpsump amount of loss is hard to digest even for a business tycoon like him.