Top 10 Famous Gamblers In The World

While gambling isn’t a foolproof way to get rich quickly, some famous gamblers have been able to make a reasonable living from it. Today, we will take a look at the top 10 gamblers in the world.

Consider how many gamblers have gained and lost money throughout history. We’re not talking about a few hundred or even a few thousand people. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of individuals, have staked something in the hope of winning.

Almost every one of these gamblers has lost money. With so many to pick from, compiling a list of the top 10 most successful gamblers in history may seem impossible.

As it turns out, there aren’t as many success stories as you might expect. Here are our top professional gamblers throughout history.

List of Famous Gamblers in the World

Are you curious who the world’s wealthiest professional gamblers are? It will always be a debate about whether gambling success is due to chance or talent. Still, there’s no doubt that the people on this list are among the world’s wealthiest and most famous gamblers.

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Although it is uncommon to get wealthy through gambling, it is possible! Today, we’ll look at famous professional gamblers and how they made their fortunes.

It’s impossible to determine the actual profits and net worth of the best bettors and players… Especially when many of them have other high-paying side hustles like being business owners, social media influencers, or trust-fund babies.

We don’t know how much of the net fortune of these famous gamblers came from other business ventures. Yet, it is clear that their gambling achievements have paved the way for other commercial accomplishments. Meanwhile, check out the best online casino bonus for Singaporean players.

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Top 10 Gamblers In The World

1. Edward O. Thorp – World’s Famous Gamblers

Considered as the Father of Card Counting, Edward Thorp is a math professor who wrote gambling books on card counting. His first book, “Beat the Dealer”, is about card counting that mathematically established the measuring the ratio of high cards to low cards left in the deck. This can help you beat the house edge in Blackjack.

He applies this card counting technique in casinos of Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, and Reno. This famous professional gambler starts with a $10,000 bankroll given by his buddy Manny Kimmel. On their first weekend of playing poker, they already earned $11,000.

Furthermore, he is also one of the first card counters that use disguises. So, he can avoid casinos from refusing to deal with him.

Keep in mind that this famous professional gambler created these card counting techniques in 1966. Moreover, Thorp is also rumored to have won in Backgammon, Baccarat, and Roulette while using a variety of other advantage strategies. Back then, some of these strategies are legal, but now it is illegal.

2. Billy Walters – Most Successful Sports Bettor

Most people consider Billy Walters to be the most successful sports bettor in the history of sports betting at all of Las Vegas’s most well-known casinos.

The truth is, Walters had a 30-year winning record in sports betting. This is by far too long to be explained by a “lucky streak.”

So, if you are looking for a rags-to-riches gambling story, Billy Walters is one. Walters was born into a poor family in Kentucky. Then, he was almost orphaned when he was two years old. Because his father died and his mother fled away, his grandma was left to raise him.

Billy Walters is not simply a well-known sports bettor, though. He also owns a car dealership, a golf course, and a car rental franchise.

But his gambling story isn’t entirely happy. He was also found guilty of insider trading and is currently serving a five-year sentence in jail.

3. Phil Ivey – Top Professional Gamblers

There is no doubt that you will climb to stardom when you’ve won 10 WSOP bracelets. Phil Ivey truly rises from stardom when he became one of the best poker players in the world.

We will not go through all of his poker tournament wins. To put it another way, there are simply too many of them.

The story of how Phil Ivey became involved in a money-making edge-sorting technique is perhaps more interesting. In 2012 while he was playing Baccarat, he earned almost $11 million.

4. Chris Moneymaker – Famous Gamblers

You have to admire someone who goes on to win the WSOP Main Event as Chris Moneymaker did in 2003. He is one of the famous gamblers who earned his WSOP entrance over the internet. The so-called “poker boom”, resulted in a massive influx of players to online poker sites.

Moneymaker continues to play poker and amass large sums of money. In his career, he’s won more than $3.5 million, including $2.5 million from his WSOP victory.

5. Don Johnson – Top Professional Gamblers

Please do not confuse this famous professional gambler with the actor Don Johnson.

The gambler that we are talking about here is the businessman. Don Johnson is a gambler who gained over $15 million playing Blackjack without employing the counting cards strategy.

Meanwhile, you can check out the difference between Pontoon and Blackjack.

In 2011 and 2012, Don Johnson had a record run against the three Atlantic City casinos. In addition, Don Johnson was thinking like an advantage player. Even though, he was not using advantage Blackjack strategy like card counting. Rather, he pushed playing on Blackjack rules with a 0.26 percent house advantage.

6. The MIT Blackjack Team – Top Professional Gamblers

While we’re on the topic of blackjack, consider this group of MIT students who worked together to count cards. Then, they robbed casinos of millions of dollars. In addition, this MIT Blackjack Team is also not a new group. Since 1979, they’ve been able to profit from casinos.

The MIT Blackjack Team uses shuffle tracking and ace tracking tools in addition to typical card counting methods. It’s thought that these famous gamblers’ methods offer them a 2% to 4% advantage over the casino.

However, they did not originate the concept of blackjack team play. Ken Uston is well-known for being the founder of one of the earliest blackjack teams.

7. Doyle Brunson – Famous Professional Gambler

Doyle Brunson, often known as Texas Dolly, retired in 2018. Yet, his poker exploits are legendary. It is believed that he developed Texas hold’em. Texas Dolly won the WSOP twice. In addition, he also authors several poker books, the most well-known of which is Super/System.

Brunson, like Phil Ivey, also has a total of ten World Series of Poker bracelets.

8. Stanford Wong – Famous Gamblers

Are you interested in gaining an advantage at Blackjack? If so, then you shouldn’t miss reading Professional Blackjack by Wong.

Stanford Wong is a well-known gambling specialist who runs his publishing firm, Pi Yee Press. His given name is John Ferguson, and not Wong. To keep one step ahead of casino security, he uses a fictitious name and that is Stanford Wong.

In the world of advantage play, his surname became a gambling term.

Wonging is when you count cards as an observer and not a player. Then, you wait until you have an advantage over the casino due to the count.

It’s easy to see why his name becomes a verb to denote a gambling strategy.

9. Richard Nixon – Most Famous Gamblers in The world

This famous gambler, Richard Nixon, was (clearly) a flawed person. Despite that, it’s difficult to see him being excluded from our list of famous gamblers.

Richard Nixon is a great successful gambling story since he uses his poker profits to support his political efforts.

10. Phil Hellmuth – Famous Professional Gambler

This 15-time WSOP bracelet winner is one of our favorite poker players in history. Phil Hellmuth is famous with his nickname – The Poker Brat. He also write the famous gambling book called Play Poker Like the Pros. In addition, he also produced several poker instructional DVDs.

The fact that Hellmuth gets emotional when playing is one of my favorite aspects about watching him play. He claims to externalize such feelings. So, they don’t come out in play, according to what I read. In other words, he simply appears to be on edge.