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Losing as little a $10,000 and as much as $1mn, in a night !
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Leonard Tose, a big spender, died on April 15th, aged 88

AT A hearing by the United States Congress into gambling, the most compelling witness by far was Leonard Tose. He reckoned that he had lost about $40m through gambling, or it might have been as much as $50m. He couldn't be sure. The money had seeped away gradually though consistently, sometimes no more than $10,000 during a frugal night at a casino, sometimes as much as $1m. But he had vast winnings too. He recalled times when everything went his way. The dollars rolled in obediently. He felt he could not lose. Such moments kept Mr Tose going when fortune seemed to have deserted him. In one bleak run of ill-fortune he lost 72 nights in a row

Mr Tose was asked if he had any advice for Congress. “Don't drink when you gamble,” he said.

There was nothing stupid about Leonard Tose. In many ways his was the classic American success story. His parents were immigrants from Russia who had settled in Philadelphia. Mr Tose told stories of his father selling goods from a pack on his back and saving up to buy a truck. From modest beginnings the son built up a business of 700 trucks whose logo became familiar throughout the United States.

In the end he lost pretty near everything: his football team, the control of his trucking business, his Rolls-Royce, a model that matched that of his fourth wife. On his 81st birthday he was evicted from his colonial-style home, and he moved into a modest hotel, where the rent was paid for by some of his remaining friends. Last year, at the age of 87, he declined to be sorry for himself. He thought he had done well to reach a great age. He occasionally took a holiday, he said, but nothing flamboyant. He had a car, albeit one eight years old. And he still had his spirit.