Video: Eight Great Moments in Gambling

Gambling can take many forms, and there have been many instances in history in which very brave or very foolish people have pushed their chips forward and said, "All in."

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few fine examples caught on video. Strange, but we couldn't find any of Napoleon's military campaigns on YouTube. . . .

8. Evel Knievel jumps the fountain at Caesar's Palace (1967)
The infamous stuntman's most punishing crash, all caught in excruciatingly slow motion. Note the apparent loss of power as his bike launches off the ramp in this eerily silent video.

7. The Fonz jumps the shark on Happy Days (1977)
Though his character's selachimorphic safety was never in question, Henry Winkler was unwittingly feeding the vocabulary of TV critics everywhere with this foolhardy stunt, from which the show never recovered. Today, "to jump the shark" means to introduce an absurd plot twist that spells the end of a show's credibility; fortunately, Winkler's own credibility was restored (at least in the eyes of BCBusiness Online) with his brilliant turn as Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development.

6. Jean van de Velde heads to the beach and goes for a swim (1999)
Okay, so maybe this isn't so much a gamble as a meltdown, but one could argue that maybe this would-be British Open champ should have laid up on his second shot instead of going for broke. That, or packed some galoshes in his bag that day.

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