"I'm a shocker." says Russell. "I blew $6,700 in one night and there are no words to describe now stupid I felt."

Russell's horrendous evening began at a dinner party in Los Angeles with his close friends Tom and Nicole.

"After dinner Tom said, 'Does anyone want to go to Vegas?' so we all drove to the airport and got on the plane," says Russell, wincing at the memory.

"In America they provide free drinks if you are at the (gaming) table, which is the biggest con job in the world. I was winning for the first hour-and-a-half and then we got sillier and sillier around the roulette table and the next thing you know it was...damn!"

"Tom was spending up and I thought, 'Hang on a minute...we don't get the same pay packet..what am I doing?' I stay away from casinos now because I do get carried away."

Russell may have learnt his lesson, but for Tom and Nicole, gambling is just another adrenalin-pumping hobby they enjoy together. The couple are regulars at the gaming tables in Las Vegas, betting $1000 and more on each hand. Nicole admits she carries a blackjack "strategy" card in her handbag whenever they go out, ready for those occasions when Tom decides on a whim to fire up the Lear jet for a few hours in Vegas.

Wherever they travel, Tom and Nicole seek out the casinos, taking a couple of bodyguards to keep away the admiring fans.

At Jupiter's Casino on the Gold Coast recently, Tom blew nearly $50,000 in just 45 minutes in the plush high rollers room during a bucks' weekend. By all accounts he was cheerful in defeat, waving aside the condolences of his fellow gamblers.