When I used to play high stakes poker in the backrooms of places you didn't want to go and there were a few strangers most of the players were packing.

Bank NegotiationsOf my many hobbies in life, studying the game poker is the one I have invested the most time in.

OR I would learn a skill-based facet of gambling (poker, blackjack, for example) and see if I could multiply it that way. 

I once won a poker tournament.;)

Amazon selecting Las Vegas for this type of infrastructure will bring others to Las Vegas as well.The hospitality industry is still expanding:Virgin Hotels is opening a new hotel/casino this month (January 2021)The First Atari Hotel Looks Like a Gamer's Fantasy — and It’s Opening in Las Vegas The Boring Company plans to expand the existing underground transit system in Las Vegas.Resorts World, a $7B hotel/casino is opening summer 2021.

They may be a better poker player than you.

Texas' constitution barred them until a decade or so ago to protect the ranch from the poker table.

Holding onto a bad deal, throwing more money at it, wishing and hoping your luck will change it, isn't a plan....for success at least.REI is a lot like Poker in the sense you don't lose money when you lose hands...you lose it when you run out of money and are out of the game.  

I've seen this all the time in poker.  

Private Lending can be an interesting way to make a good return on your money for short term loans - and you'll generally have a 1st position lien on the property so if they skipped town, moved to Vegas, and became poker players - you'd get the house.