Irish Gambler JP McManus Wins $17.4 Million In 72-Hour Backgammon Session

This player went broke. That player had a huge piece of the WSOP main event winner. Another lost an eight-figure pot in Macau.

In the world of poker and gambling you hear a lot about money won and lost, but it’s not too often that the true details of a gamble are known.

One story in which plenty of the hard facts are known is that of Irish businessman and gambler JP McManus winning $17.4 million off of American billionaire Alec E. Gores in one marathon backgammon session.

An article on The Daily Beast details the story of this massive windfall for McManus and how the facts became public when the Irishman and his legal team took steps to challenge the IRS over the $5.2 million of the money Gores lost which the private equity investor withheld and paid to the IRS in order to cover any possible federal liability.

Gores has a history of involvement in high stakes gambling, being one of the players involved in a private poker game that featured Hollywood actor Tobey Maguire. Details of that game also made it to the public eye when Maquire was sued for $311,200 after a player in the game was found to have lost millions of dollars of money that he was supposed to manage and invest for clients.

McManus has a storied career of horse betting and other forms of gambling, but has also amassed a considerable fortune himself through more typical business avenues. At one point he was a shareholder in soccer juggernaut Manchester United. He also overseas a private foreign exchange trade firm in Switzerland and has invested in the British gambling company Ladbrokes.

McManus’ suit against the IRS to regain the $5.2 million withheld from the money he won off Gores at backgammon is ongoing.

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