Mark Wahlberg lost $45,000 on single roulette bet

Actor Mark Wahlberg lost $45,000 on a single bet while preparing to play a gambling drug addict in new movie The Gambler.

The Fighter star has stepped into the role made famous by James Caan in the 1974 original and as part of his movie research, he headed to a casino in Macau, China to try his luck on the tables.

However, what started as a good night quickly turned sour as an ill-advised bet on a high-stakes table cost him the lot.

He explains, "I hit blackjack three times. Needless to say, I won a lot of money. And like my character in the movie, I took every chip off the table and walked right over to the roulette wheel, put it all on black... and lost everything."