In March 2011, at the peak of high season, a dreadful rumor arose. It was said that at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, bettors in the sportsbook had been discovered standing at their posts in all the dutiful sweating postures—but not alive. “Every normal attitude of life was imitated by these dead men,” according to a witness “The illusion was so complete that often the living would speak to the dead before they realized the true state of affairs.”
One of the poorly understood aspects of professional gambling is that even winning sessions can take their toll. The repeated daily trauma has led to what are recognised as characteristic symptoms of a degenerate gambler—trembling “rather like a jelly shaking”; headache; tinnitus, or ringing in the ear; dizziness; poor concentration; confusion; incessant need to troll internet forums; loss of memory; and disorders of sleep—but such symptoms were seen even among winning gamblers not presently experiencing a downswing. No, they were not tilting. Rather, their condition was one of “neurasthenia,” or weakness of the nerves—in laymen’s terms, a nervous breakdown precipitated by the dreadful stress of betting half Kelly with a large bankroll.
Many found out too late that they were not able to withstand the stress of sweating so much volume, week in, week out. For some, they would never be able to return home; changed men, unable to relate to their old friends and family back home, they remained in the country they had grown to know so well.
A gambler has a seizure while sweating a horse race:
https://youtu.be/zq1kwKFOzFQ
The following videos have been put in spoilers, possibly disturbing to view.
Thus, we take a moment of silence to salute those who, even in victory, were lost in the great struggle; victims of circumstances so much greater than themselves, so much greater than what any ordinary man would ever be asked to endure.