As public investments go, this one looked like a roll of the dice.

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) wanted a big win, so it put $100 million into the buyout of a Las Vegas gaming company called Station Casinos.

The company went bankrupt, and like many an unlucky jackpot-chaser, the state’s largest pension fund walked away a loser. More than $99 million of Texas teachers’ retirement money had vanished

TRS is the nation’s fifth-largest public pension provider, with current assets of $110 billion. It serves 1.3 million public education employees, about one-fourth of whom are retired.