Jackpot dream sparks N$10 million gambling addiction

Double jackpot wins during a casino visit marked the start of a ruinous gambling addiction for a married couple who have admitted guilt on fraud, theft and money laundering charges involving close to N$10 million. This is according to testimony heard by judge Eileen Rakow in the Windhoek High Court on Thursday. Testifying in mitigation of sentence, Barnard Jantjies (61) told the court he decided to visit a casino in Windhoek one Tuesday, after having a dream about a gambling machine hitting a jackpot.

Jantjies said he did not know how to operate a gambling machine, but with assistance from a casino employee he used N$100 to gamble on a machine that looked like the one he had seen in his dream. Soon, lady luck favoured him – or cursed him, as it would turn out – and he hit a jackpot, winning N$21 000, Jantjies recounted. The casino assistant then suggested he should also try his luck on another machine, Jantjies said.