If Jacob's logline is truly representative of the central idea of your script, then I would say, put this script aside and start working on a new concept. As a professional story analyst, I came across dozens of scripts with a premise almost identical to this one. Unrepentant/foolish gambler tries to pay off his massive debts with one last score? Isn't that pretty much what every gambling movie is about...a gambler who doesn't know when to quit, and the loan sharks that are waiting to gobble him up? Good luck trying to get that script read by professionals, because the concept alone isn't going to entice anyone. Even if it's based on a true story, I still don't think that's going to do the trick.
Gambling movies don't get made all that often, and the ones that do, have to feature some sort of twist beyond the usual gambler-learning-his-lesson-the-hard-way. HARD EIGHT (P.T. Anderson's early work) features an experienced gambler taking a young loser under his wing and teaching him the tricks of the trade. THE COOLER focuses on a mystical man whose contagious bad luck streak spreads to those around him, until romance turns his life upside down and his bad luck turns into good luck instead. See how these concepts are somewhat DIFFERENT? See if you can come up with a twist that hasn't been explored before...
As for the original question - I usually find that if I make a trail of M&M's leading to my sp most get sucked in and feel obliged to read after stuffing their face...
Mind you, you gotta watch out for the sticky fingers all over the pages - so I'd put a 'fresh' one done at the start of every new day...
;-0
