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Quick answer: the richest professional gamblers in the world are Tony Bloom, Bill Benter, Billy Walters, Edward Thorp and Andrew Black. What these famous professional gamblers have in common is that none of them got rich playing slots or other games of pure chance. They beat betting markets (football, horse racing, US sports) or beatable games such as blackjack, using maths, data and discipline, and then turned those skills into businesses.
Last checked: 12 November 2026, when we confirmed Tony Bloom’s £779 million in the Sunday Times Rich List 2026 is still the latest published figure and worked out the win rate a sports bettor needs to profit. Other figures last checked: 11 October 2026.
| Gambler | Made their money from | Estimated wealth |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Bloom | Football betting, poker, Starlizard, Brighton & Hove Albion | £779 million (Sunday Times Rich List 2026) |
| Bill Benter | Computer-model horse racing betting in Hong Kong | Reported winnings of close to $1 billion |
| Billy Walters | US sports betting, then property and business | About $200 million (published estimates) |
| Edward Thorp | Blackjack card counting, then hedge funds | Not publicly disclosed |
| Andrew Black | Professional betting and bridge, then co-founding Betfair | Betfair stake worth roughly £140 million to £200 million at its 2010 flotation |
1. Tony Bloom: net worth about £779 million
Known for: football betting, poker and Starlizard
Estimated wealth: £779 million (Sunday Times Rich List 2026)
Tony Bloom, nicknamed “The Lizard” from his poker days, is the best-known professional gambler in Britain. After a short career in finance and the early online betting industry, he founded Starlizard, a betting consultancy that uses data analysis to price football matches more accurately than the bookmakers. He’s also a successful high-stakes poker player and the chairman and owner of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, which accounts for much of his fortune.
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2. Bill Benter: close to $1 billion from betting
Known for: computer-model horse racing betting
Estimated wealth: reported winnings of close to $1 billion
Bill Benter studied physics and started his gambling career counting cards at blackjack in Las Vegas, until the casinos banned him. In 1985 he moved to Hong Kong to join fellow gambler Alan Woods in applying computer modelling to horse racing. Starting with a small bankroll, his system built up large profits over the following years. Benter is widely regarded as the most successful horse racing bettor of all time, and his model is still studied by sports data scientists.
3. Billy Walters: net worth about $200 million
Known for: US sports betting
Estimated net worth: about $200 million (published estimates)
Billy Walters grew up poor in rural Kentucky and became the most famous sports bettor in America, claiming a winning streak of more than 30 years on NFL, college football and basketball. He built a business empire alongside his betting, including car dealerships and Las Vegas golf courses. In 2017 he was convicted of insider trading involving Dean Foods shares, a case unrelated to his betting. His sentence was commuted in January 2021. He told his story in the 2023 memoir Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk.
4. Edward Thorp: net worth not disclosed
Known for: inventing card counting
Estimated wealth: not publicly disclosed
Mathematics professor Edward Thorp proved that blackjack could be beaten. His 1962 book Beat the Dealer introduced card counting to the world, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and changed how casinos run the game. With Claude Shannon, he also built one of the first wearable computers to predict roulette. Thorp then applied the same thinking to financial markets, running hedge funds that made him far more money than the casinos ever did.
5. Andrew Black: Betfair stake worth £140m to £200m in 2010
Known for: co-founding Betfair
Estimated wealth: his Betfair stake was worth roughly £140 million to £200 million when the company floated in 2010; no current figure is published
Andrew Black made a living as a professional gambler and bridge player before co-founding Betfair, the world’s first major betting exchange, which launched in 2000. Instead of betting against a bookmaker, Betfair lets punters bet against each other. The idea transformed the betting industry, and Betfair floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, which made its founders very wealthy.
What these famous professional gamblers have in common
- They play games with an edge to find. Sports and racing odds are set by people and can be wrong; early blackjack could be beaten by counting. Slots, roulette and dice games such as Sic Bo have a fixed house edge that no system can overcome.
- They use maths and data. Benter’s racing model, Bloom’s football analysts and Thorp’s card-counting maths all treated betting as a numbers problem.
- They manage risk. Thorp helped popularise the Kelly criterion for sizing bets, and none of them bet more than their edge justified.
- They built businesses. Most of their wealth came from turning their gambling skills into companies, funds or investments, not from betting alone.
What win rate does a professional sports bettor need?
At typical odds of 1.91 (−110 in US terms), a sports bettor has to win about 52.4% of bets just to break even, because the bookmaker’s margin is built into the price. The richest bettors earn their money from a few percentage points above that line. Here is what 1,000 bets of €100 at 1.91 return at different win rates:
| Win rate | Profit or loss on 1,000 bets of €100 | Return on money staked |
|---|---|---|
| 50% (coin-flip guessing) | −€4,500 | −4.5% |
| 52.4% (break-even) | About €0 | 0% |
| 53% | +€1,230 | +1.2% |
| 55% | +€5,050 | +5.1% |
| 57% | +€8,870 | +8.9% |
This table is our own sum: each win pays €91 profit and each loss costs €100. It shows why the edge is so thin: the gap between losing €4,500 and winning €5,050 is only 5 winning bets in every 100. That’s also why the pros on this list size their bets carefully and why bookmakers restrict accounts that win consistently.
For what famous players have said about the game, see our gambling quotes from poker players and professional gamblers.
For everyone else, the lesson is simple: treat casino play as entertainment with a budget. If you enjoy betting on sports, choose a trusted bookmaker with competitive odds and fast payouts. Our top-rated 1win combines a casino and a full sportsbook. For big-stakes play, see our guide to high roller casinos.
Do professional gamblers pay tax?
It depends on where they live. In the UK, gambling winnings aren’t taxed for players (the tax is paid by the operators), whereas in the United States, gambling winnings are taxable income and professional gamblers report them as business income. Many other countries have their own rules, so anyone earning significant amounts from gambling should take local tax advice.
How we checked this
The key figures on this page are each checked against at least two independent sources:
- Tony Bloom’s estimated £779 million in the Sunday Times Rich List 2026: SiGMA and SBC News.
- Bill Benter’s reported winnings of close to $1 billion, and his move to Hong Kong in 1985: Bloomberg and Guinness World Records.
- Billy Walters’ net worth of about $200 million: Celebrity Net Worth ($200 million) and Casino.org ($200 million, updated March 2026). The Las Vegas Review-Journal covers his betting wins.
- Andrew Black’s Betfair stake at the October 2010 flotation: Reuters (via Investing.com) reports he kept 10.2% of a company valued at £1.39 billion (about £140 million by our sum) after selling shares for up to £18.9 million; Wikipedia puts his stake at about £200 million. The sources differ, so we give a range.
- Walters’ claimed winning streak of more than 30 years and his 2023 memoir: NBC News and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- Walters’ insider trading conviction in 2017: the US Department of Justice and AP (via Fox News). His sentence was commuted in January 2021: the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Forbes.
- Edward Thorp’s Beat the Dealer, published in 1962: UC Irvine and Guinness World Records.
- Betfair, co-founded by Andrew Black, launched in 2000 and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010: Reuters (via Investing.com) and European Gaming.
Facts last checked: 11 October 2026. Wealth estimates change from year to year, so treat them as a guide.
Richest gamblers FAQs
Who is the richest gambler in the world?
Among professional gamblers, Tony Bloom is the wealthiest with a published figure, estimated at £779 million in the Sunday Times Rich List 2026. Bill Benter may rival him: his betting is reported to have made close to $1 billion.
What is Tony Bloom’s net worth?
About £779 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2026. Much of it comes from Brighton & Hove Albion and his betting consultancy Starlizard.
What is Billy Walters’ net worth?
About $200 million, according to published estimates. He made it from more than 30 years of sports betting plus car dealerships, golf courses and property.
What is Bill Benter’s net worth?
No official figure exists, but his horse racing betting in Hong Kong is reported to have made close to $1 billion, which is why he is often called the most profitable gambler ever.
Who is the most successful sports bettor of all time?
Billy Walters is usually named as the most successful US sports bettor, with a claimed winning streak of more than 30 years. Tony Bloom holds that reputation in football betting.
Can you get rich gambling at online casinos?
Not reliably. Casino games have a built-in house edge, so players lose over time on average. People do win record jackpots, but the richest gamblers made their money in markets where skill can give an edge, such as sports betting, and by building businesses.
Who invented card counting?
Edward Thorp, whose 1962 book Beat the Dealer showed mathematically that blackjack could be beaten by tracking the cards that have been played.
What is Edward Thorp’s net worth?
Edward Thorp’s net worth has never been publicly disclosed, so any exact figure you see online is an estimate. He first became known for proving blackjack could be beaten by card counting in his 1962 book Beat the Dealer, but most of his wealth came later from running hedge funds, which earned him far more than the casinos ever did.
What is Andrew Black’s net worth?
No current figure is published. When Betfair, the betting exchange he co-founded, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, his stake was worth roughly £140 million to £200 million, depending on the source. Before Betfair, Black made his living as a professional gambler and bridge player.
What win rate do you need to beat the bookmaker?
About 52.4% at odds of 1.91 (−110), just to break even. Winning 55% of €100 bets at those odds makes about €5 profit per bet on average, by our own sum. Very few bettors keep a rate like that over thousands of bets.
Can you make a living as a professional gambler?
A few people do, but it’s rare. The gamblers on this list found an edge in sports betting, horse racing or blackjack, and most of their wealth came from businesses built on those skills. Bookmakers can also restrict accounts: UK Gambling Commission data for 2024 showed 4.31% of online betting accounts were restricted, and 46.78% of restricted accounts were in profit, against 25.42% of all active accounts.
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