New Hampshire Man Loses Life Savings On Carnival Game
As the old saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted:
EPSOM, NH (CBS) – Henry Gribbohm says he lost his life savings, $2,600, on a carnival game and all he has to show for it
is a stuffed banana with dreadlocks.
“You’re expecting the kids to win a few things, let the kids have a good time,” said Gribbohm. “It just didn’t turn out that way.”
Gribbohm says he attended a Manchester carnival run by New Hampshire-based Fiesta Shows and wanted to win an Xbox Kinect at a game called Tubs of Fun where contestants toss balls into a tub. When he practiced he says it was easy, but something changed when he started playing for the prize and the balls kept popping out.
“It’s not possible that it wasn’t rigged,” said Gribbohm.
The 30-year-old from Epsom says he kept trying to win back his money by going double or nothing. He dropped $300 in just a few minutes, then says he went home to get $2,300 more and soon lost all of that as well.
“You just get caught up in the whole ‘I’ve got to win my money back.'”
Somewhere, P.T. Barnum is smiling.
This guy’s life savings was $2,600. Quite likely this was not his first carnival.
@Tony W:
And it was all sitting at home.
I’m sorry, I don’t have too much sympathy for someone in this position. One of the responsibilities of being an adult is realizing that your chance at any roulette wheel/card game/whatever is very low. Decide how much you are willing to lose, lose it, then walk away. Never try to recoup. (Yes, I indulge in Powerball once a month, but I figure I can handle the strain of $24/year.)
Given that this individual thought that “double or quits” was an appropriate gaming strategy….well, let’s say I’m not surprised that this guy’s life savings was $2,600.
What I do think should have happened is that the Fiesta people should have cut him off, however. The negative PR they got from allowing him to dump all his money is far more than what they gained cashwise.
There are very few carnie games that aren’t fixed.
In fact, the only one I played that wasn’t fixed was in Canada…. Go figure, eh.
NBC News dud a reporter about these Carnival games:
http://www.today.com/video/today/48173672
It´s so exaggerated that´s fun.
$2,600 spent to win a $30-$60 video game but instead winning a maybe $20 stuffed toy?
I can understand hanging around a Vegas hotel and plunking a lot of quarters into the slot machine and getting into the thrill of it but this is just crazy.
He should probably see a psychiatrist. The guy clearly has an addiction problem with games.
Willing to waste $2600 to win an Xbox. That’s some bargain.
And willing to be interviewed about it. That’s why we can’t have nice things.
The real loser here is Sarah Palin. This guy is clearly the type to keep sending her donations…
I know this web site gives quality based content and additional information, is there any
other website which provides these kinds of information in quality?