In London, he tried out several table games in his Savoy suite, winning or losing in one session more than most people make in a lifetime. As one of his executives put it, he used to gamble when he found himself bored and since he was bored often, he gambled a lot.

Kerry had been a big punter for such a long time, but after the billion-dollar deal with Alan Bond his stakes became extremely large. In March 1987, two months after having sold Nine, he reportedly lost $19 million playing blackjack in a single night.

Packer's exploits in casinos in London and also in Las Vegas during the 1980s and 1990s made him a legend, and earned him the nickname of "Prince of Whales". Actually, most of the tales really happened. From the 1980s until he died, he was one of the biggest casino gamblers ever known. He bet bigger than arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, bigger than the Sultan of Brunei and bigger than any of the oil sheiks or Asian high-rollers.

Kerry occasionally played roulette and baccarat, but his favorite was blackjack, which he was very good at. According to croupiers, he knew the basic strategies, which helped him reduce the casino's advantage to about 1 percent. However, he did not count cards and was not good enough to turn the odds in his favor. Nor did he win as much as he lost, despite the fact that he occasionally won huge amounts. Those who gambled with him remember he chased his losses and hated to give in.