Friday I witnessed one of the most amazing and wonderful moments of my 21-year reporting career. It came after an early morning flight to Detroit where we rented a car, met up with a freelance crew and drove to a suburban mobile-home park.

I felt like Ed McMahon or the guy from Publishers Clearing House with cameras behind me as I approached the front steps of a double-wide trailer in a well-kept yard.

I knocked and saw a woman inside rush toward the door.

I confirmed her name and introduced myself and held up my Blackberry with Robin Hood 702 on the speakerphone.

“Can you hear me?” He asked. “Get your husband out there… I want to speak to him too!”

Her husband appeared with their young daughter in his arms and Robin Hood broke the news.

“You have been chosen by Robin Hood, myself. I’m flying you to Vegas…” As he spoke I watched the tears flow down her face. Her husband began to cry, my producer welled up and I’m not ashamed to admit I did too, as Robin Hood continued.

“The limo is picking you up at 4 o’clock. I’m gonna fly you first class and I’m gonna bring you out of debt.”

There was a stunned moment of silence but the mood was sheer joy and incredulous relief.

“Are you serious?” She asked, but of course she knew he was.

As we first reported in August, Robin Hood 702 is a high stakes blackjack player who decided to help a family buried in bills during these tough economic times by using his skills at the table to win the money they needed to get back to even. Find out more on his web site >>

He solicited submissions to his website and the entries poured in by the hundreds. The family he chose is buried in medical bills and struggling financially. Now their lives were about to change forever.

And there was another entry from a woman in Charleston, S.C. who Robin Hood says touched him so much he flew her to Vegas too.

* * *

A long black stretch limo pulled up to the family’s driveway ahead of schedule and the father carried out the stroller and car seat and the driver helped load bags in the trunk. “Have you ever ridden in a limo before?” I asked. “When we got married four years ago” he said with a smile, “but not since.”

They were about to have their horizons broadened beyond what they could even imagine.

We joined the family on the flight to Vegas and documented Robin Hood’s attempt to win their money back (he promised them half no matter what) and we’ll reveal their identities.

But here’s a sneak peek:

There was plenty of drama and eventually bags full of thousands of dollars worth of chips taken from the rich and given to the poor, who go home touched by the generosity and armed for a fresh start in life.

He calls himself “Robin Hood 702.”

He’s a high stakes blackjack player well known in certain Las Vegas casinos for wagering thousands of dollars a hand, sometimes winning (or losing) hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single day.

Now he’s offering to use his gambling skills — and his own money — to help a family in financial need, like a modern-day Robin Hood, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. He wants to remain anonymous to keep the focus on the good deed he’s ready to do.

“I’m looking for a well deserving family up against hard times” he told me over a recent dinner on the West Coast. “People $25,000 to $50,000 in debt who did right by family or neighbors in the past. Now it’s their time to be helped and I want to be the one to help them.”

He’s created a website, Robinhood702.com, where he’ll collect submissions now through Sept. 15 before choosing a winner. He says anyone can nominate anyone in need, like a friend, relative, neighbor or themselves, by sending a 1- to 3-minute video explaining their hardships, contributions or other reasons they should be selected.

He’ll choose a winner after confirming the details of their story and financial crisis.

Robin Hood 702 promises the chosen family “an unforgettable experience” in Las Vegas or a similar gaming venue (he’s still looking for the right casino to host the event). He’ll fly them in, put them up in a high-roller suite and cover meals, spa treatments and show tickets. Then, at some point he’ll go into the casino’s VIP high-limit room and win the money necessary to pay off their debt.

“What if you lose?” I ask him. “I won’t” he insists.

Then, because he’s superstitious, he asks me not to use the “L” word again, guaranteeing he’ll set aside half the money the family needs to be debt-free and hand it over, no matter what happens at the blackjack table.

“But that won’t be necessary. I’m gonna win the money” he tells me, and after seeing him play, it’s easy to believe the boast.

He says he’s been gambling since he was 16, experiencing every emotion imaginable, “up, down, over and out”, but says he’s figured out after all these years how to win consistently, crediting much of his success to good karma and good luck.

He doesn’t recommend that others try this and says he knows some perceive gambling as “the dark side,” but he believes he can use it to do good and says he hopes to start a national movement, with people using their skills or expertise in other fields to help families in crisis.

For now, he’s focusing on finding the first family, he told me while sipping Evian with a slice of orange (he doesn’t drink alcohol).

“My goal,” he says, “is to save someone’s house, pay their debts and win back their American dream.”