The Wealthiest Gamblers in the World
The Wealthiest Gamblers in the World
The gambling industry is not a guaranteed get-rich-quick scheme, but some people have managed to make decent money from gambling. This article looks at the people whose bets paid off.
Are you curious about who the world’s wealthiest professional gamblers are? We were too, so we did a bit of research. It has always been debatable whether success in gambling is due to skill or luck will always exist, but no doubt, the people featured here are among the world’s wealthiest gamblers.
Despite being rare, it is possible to become wealthy through gambling! Throughout this article, we’ll consider some of the world’s most wealthy gamblers, including how they made their money.
Keeping track of the exact assets and earnings of professional gamblers can be difficult. Our knowledge of the extent to which their wealth has been derived from other ventures is limited, and, more often than not, it is their gambling successes that have brought them success in other ventures.
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Tony Bloom
Estimated Net Worth: $1.7 billion
Tony ‘the Lizard’ Bloom, known for his sports betting and poker skills, tops our list of the most famous players. While the majority of those on this list made their fortunes through business ventures, Bloom’s gambling prowess undoubtedly made his fortune even sweeter.
Aside from gambling, Bloom has also invested heavily in property, made a final appearance on the World Poker Tour, and created his own gambling sites.
He is also the majority shareholder of the Belgian football club, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, and the Chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion.
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Bill Benter
Estimated Net Worth: $1 billion
William Benter was born in Pennsylvania but began his professional gambling career in Las Vegas.
After just seven years of winning, Benter was banned from most Las Vegas casinos since his physics degree and knowledge of mathematics made him the world’s richest gambler.
Benter began to focus on the horse racing market as soon as he met Alan Woods and moved to Hong Kong.
Over time, the duo split up, and Benter developed software to assist with horse racing betting as well as predicting outcomes of races.
His success as a gambler is unparalleled, making an estimated $100 million per year through single-day races.
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Edward Thorp
Estimated Net Worth: $800 million
In his book Beat the Dealer, Edward Thorp uses mathematics to demonstrate that you can defeat the house advantage in blackjack by counting cards. This book served as a significant stepping stone in the success of many other blackjack players, including Bill Benter.
In addition to holding a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Edward worked as a mathematics professor at several universities. In addition to his gambling success, Edward applied his skills to the stock market and developed methods of making money from stocks. A Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee since 2002, he was one of the initial seven inducted.
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Alan Woods
Net Worth: $670 million AUD
Alan Woods was regarded as one of the world’s best players before his death in 2008. As a result of his high net worth, he is still the wealthiest gambler in the world with a net worth of more than $500 million USD.
The University of New England in Australia was Alan’s first education, but he didn’t graduate (or play the blackjack tables like his MIT Blackjack team). His first gambling experience was on video poker where he did not have much success. Other bridge players taught him how to count cards while playing the game of bridge. After three years of playing blackjack professionally, he retired and moved to Hong Kong to wager on horses with Bill Benter.
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Zeljko Ranogajec
Estimated Net Worth: $610 million AUD
In addition to gambling for real money, Zeljko Ranogajec was successful in horse racing as well as blackjack. His net worth is approximately $610 million AUD.
While working at a casino, Zeljko learned card counting while studying finance, taxation, and banking at the Tasmania University. In the end, he was barred from playing in Australian casinos, so he relocated to the US and began counting cards in Vegas. He eventually made a fortune in horse betting in Australia after being prohibited from gambling in Las Vegas.
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Dan Bilzerian
Estimated Net Worth: $200 million?
Several have claimed that Dan Bilzerian lies about his net worth, which has led to the source of Bilzerian’s wealth being disputed heavily. Although this has never been proven, Dan claims his money is almost entirely derived from his success in high-stakes poker. During the 2008 World Series of Poker, Dan finished 180th. In addition to being a GGPoker brand ambassador, he doesn’t ever play against professionals.
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There is speculation that much of Dan’s wealth is inherited from his father, who was a corporate raider on Wall Street. He also runs Ignite International Brands Ltd. in addition to playing cash poker with other amateurs.
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Terry Ramsden
Estimated Net Worth: $200 million
In the 1980s, Terry Ramsden specialized mainly in Japanese business, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t make a lot of money betting on horses – he was once ranked 57th on the UK rich list.
Before buying a company that bet on horses, Ramsden began wagering on low-stakes races, which produced a small profit in the beginning, but in just three years the company had turned a profit of $4.1 billion.
Despite Ramsden’s success today, his net worth isn’t what it was in the 80s – he lost money after the stock market crashed, had £100 million in debt, and even went to jail for fraud.
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Billy Walters
Estimated Net worth: $200 million
William Walters, one of many sports bettors who live proof of this, has made a living from sports betting.
The first bets Walters ever made came from the money he made as a newspaper boy at the age of nine. He has amassed a total of $200 million in financial wealth since the beginning of his career.
Walton went on to become one of the world’s wealthiest gamblers after reaching adulthood. An LA bookmaking business he founded brought him millions of dollars. Despite this, he served a five-year sentence for charges of insider trading.
Trump pardoned him after his release from prison in 2020.
The sports betting of Billy Walters was incredible. Before his imprisonment, he was estimated to have made $15 million.
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Phil Ivey
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Estimated Net Worth: $100 million
Gamblers who are among the wealthiest include this native Californian poker pro.
More than 19 million dollars of Phil Ivey’s winnings came from live tournaments. In addition, he won the WPT and eight times won the WSOP.
In the 2002 World Series of Poker, Ivey finished among the top 25 of that year’s main event.
Furthermore, Ivey also won his sixth WSOP bracelet by beating 147 players at the No-Limit Hold’em Lowball event of 2009. Eventually, he took home $1,596,100 in the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino.
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Chris Ferguson
Estimated Net worth: $80 million
Ferguson, like many of the people listed here, first played poker as a child. Chris Ferguson has been competing in poker tournaments since the mid-90s, and in 1995 he made his first appearance at the WSOP.
In addition to his six WSOP wins and five bracelets, Ferguson is one of the richest gamblers in the United States. He achieved the best result of his career as the main event champion in 2000.
Ferguson stands out among his peers as the only WSOP winner to win three circuits and five bracelets.
He has a variety of amazing abilities, including the ability to throw cards so quickly that they slice through fruits and vegetables.
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Doyle Brunson
Estimated Net worth: $75 million
Professional poker player Brunson was born in Texas and has been playing for over 50 years. His participation in the WSOP has been almost constant since its inception. He has won two World Series of Poker championships and ten World Series of Poker bracelets in addition to being an author.
Among the most famous guides ever published on poker is the one that first appeared in 1978, titled Super/System.
A new edition of Brunson’s book, titled Super/System 2, appeared in the mid-2000s. David Sklansky, Chip Reese and Bobby Baldwin have all contributed to the new version.
Also noteworthy is the fact that Brunson was given two Texas Hold’em hands: a ten and two of any suit and an ace and queen of any suit.
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Howard Lederer
Estimated Net Worth: $60 million
Lederer, who is Annie Duke’s older brother, is another poker player on our list – and he has been teaching people about the game as well.
His works have been published, he has served as a commentator for several poker media outlets, and he has even organized poker fantasy camps.
Among Lederer’s accomplishments is founding Full Tilt Poker, which closed on February 25, 2021.
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Jonathan Duhamel
Estimated Net Worth: $32 million
In 2010, Duhamel won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker. He is a Canadian pro poker player. In particular, Duhamel defeated John Racener to win $8,944,310 and become Canada’s first winner of the tournament.
Duhamel was the winner of the European Poker Tour Deauville High Roller Event in January 2011, which has been considered to be the most prestigious poker event in Europe. Later that year, he cashed twice at the 2011 WSOP for more than $40,000.
He continues to succeed after this. Duhamel reached four final tables at the Caribbean Poker Adventure held by Poker Stars the following year.
Wins from live tournaments for this gambler have reached more than $12 million since 2013.
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Patrik Antonius
Estimated Net worth: $25 million
Antonius has won a lot of chips and followers for his cool gaze over the years. He is commonly referred to as a “cold-blooded killer” at the poker table.
This professional won $1,046,470 in the WPN Five Diamond Nl Hold ’em Tournament in 2005. He won a prize of $3,151,734 during the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl China NL Hold Em Tournament.
In the €10,000 NL Hold ’em event at the EPT Barcelona 2019, Antonius won $21,512, while he won $11,133 at the €5,000 NL Hold ’em.
Even though he has yet to win a WSOP bracelet, his estimated net worth is just under $25 million which is impressive.
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Haralabos Voulgaris
Estimated Net worth: $500,000 to $2 million
In the world of sports betting, Haralobos Voulgaris has established his place as one of the most successful and prolific NBA sports bettors on the planet. It has been reported that Voulgaris bet the life savings he had on the Shaq/Kobe Lakers to be the winners of the 2000 NBA title.
What made Voulgaris one of the richest gamblers in the world? Well, his talent for reading coaches helped him make a lot of money. In a single NBA game, for instance, he would wager over $1 million.
With winnings totaling $3 million, he placed 4th in the WSOP Big One in 2017.
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Archie Karas – Special Mention
Archie Karas Estimated Net worth: Reached $40 million but he lost everything
This is the stuff of Hollywood movies after all these tales of success.
As one of the most notorious gamblers in the history of professional poker, Archie Karas was also the biggest loser.
During the period 1992 to 1995, he accumulated a fortune worth more than $40 million. These three-year winning streaks have become known as “The Run” and are now considered the longest and largest hot streak in gambling history.
After “The Run,” Karas was unable to find new opponents, so he started playing other games. One of the world’s wealthiest gamblers hit rock bottom during this time.
Karas lost $11 million playing craps, then $17 million playing baccarat in a single game. Karas lost $30 million in less than a month.
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