THE BEAST

Musicians, especially Metal Musicians, know how to work hard and play hard. Play cards, that is. Gambling has a strong tie with metal music because both have something to do with being edgy, taking risks, and living dangerously. Gambling is actually a popular theme for many songs. The music of Megadeth and Iron Maiden talk about what bad things can happen if you gamble. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many metal musicians are also the biggest highroller casino patrons.

Motorhead’s founder and frontman, Lemmy Kilmister, a pretty unique character , was known to be a keen gambler. Everyone knew it, including his fans. This was largely because of the documentary about his life.One of the band's most popular songs, Ace of Spades, was even written by Lemmy. But it wasn’t the cards that interested this hard playing musician. He was more interested in playing the slots. If he is not in the studio or on stage, he can be found spinning the reels at his favorite gambling venues in London.

Steve Albini, on the other hand, spends his free time on the poker tables of the best casinos. This legendary producer and Shellac's vocalist and guitarist loves pitting his card skills against the best poker players in the world. Despite this musician’s busy performance schedule, Albini was able to carve time to work on his game. He has made several appearances in both the seven-card stud and no-limit hold em poker games of the World Series of Poker Seniors Championship. In one of these four appearances in the tournament, he was able to finish in 12 th place.

Another big name in the music industry and a great poker player is Anthrax’s vocalist and rhythm guitarist, Scott Ian . Admittedly, it was not easy for this musician to find a balance between honing his card-playing skills and writing music for the band. Scott Ian has always been interested in the game, but it was his win in the charity game hosted by VH1 that motivated him to play poker competitively. Thanks to online casinos, he was able to train to be good enough to play in the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic and the World Series of Poker the year after that. During his free time, it was claimed that Ian arranged home poker games for him and some of the biggest heavy metal names. Allegedly, the group is made up of Slash, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, and Kirk Hamett of Metallica.

Is there something about being the lead vocalist and guitarist of a metal band that makes them extra interested in playing poker? Godsmack’s Salvatore Paul Erna, for example, loved the game so much that he got a tattoo of four aces on fire all over his back. Erna is such a big name in the heavy metal industry that it was surprising how he found the time to master the game. But master it he did.

Gambling presents not just a great opportunity to take risks but also is a good way to take a break from the crazy life of a musician. These artists, despite their astounding performance commitments, still made time to get a game in or two of their favorite online casinos because of the love for the game.