If you want to recognize what it’s like to be a professional gambler, this piece will present you the richest players of 2022. They gain a lot of money by betting on blackjack, horse racing, poker, dice, baccarat, etc.
Keep in mind that some of these successful gamblers are not incredible achievers — several of them experienced more losses than winnings. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, you can look for the best boku online casinos.
The Richest Professional Players
At this point, as you familiarize yourself with the most successful names in gambling, you need to grasp what makes each of these personalities exceptional.
1. Bill Benter (Horse Racing and Blackjack)
Bill Benter’s income: 1 billion dollars. A native of Pennsylvania, William Benter, or Bill Benter, launched his career as a successful player in Vegas.
Banner’s background in physics and his expertise in mathematics enhanced his performance early on — indeed, the world’s wealthiest player was so proficient at blackjack that he was prohibited from entering most Las Vegas casinos following seven years of victories. After getting acquainted with Alan Woods and relocating to Hong Kong, Benter concentrated on the horse racing business.
Later, the pair split up, and Benter improved the prediction strategy for horse racing results, which eventually allowed him to develop horse racing betting tools. Therefore, we can confidently claim that he is among the leading gamblers. At present, it is estimated that he makes $100 million a year, with one-day races generating up to $10 million.
2. Edward Thorpe (Baccarat, Blackjack)
Edward Thorpe’s fortune: 800 million dollars. Thorpe is a writer, professor of mathematics, and expert blackjack gambler. He is additionally appreciated for the co-invention of the first portable computer with Claude Shannon in 1961.
Following years of winning casino tournaments, Thorpe emerged among the richest professional gamblers of all time. He came to Wall Street, where he applied his math expertise to forecasting market irregularities. Indeed, in his book “Beat the Market” (1967), Thorpe revealed his techniques for making profit on shares. All things considered, Thorpe is a brilliant brain and a prominent participant of the Blackjack Hall of Fame.
3. Billy Walters (Sports Betting)
Billy Walters’ assets: 250 million dollars. Sports betting offers a great deal of benefits, and Billy Walters is among a considerable number of professionals who are a direct proof of this. This is indeed the point that over a half of all US citizens have bet on a certain sport at least once.
Walters started placing his first bets with the funds he gained at the newspaper at the young age of nine. Since the start of his profession, this gambler has amassed an incredible fortune of about 250 million dollars.
In his adult life, Walters turned out to be among the biggest players of the world. He established a bookmaker’s office in Los Angeles, where he received many millions. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to five years in prison on suspicion of insider betting. Upon his liberation in 2020, he was cleared by ex-president Donald Trump. Billy Walters’ sports betting was beyond unrealistic. He earned about $15 million before being sent to prison.
4. Phil Ivey (Poker)
Phil Ivey’s earnings: 100 million dollars. This California native professional poker player was included to our top richest players list, and this is the reason why. Phil Ivey’s general earnings are more than 26,250,000 million USD in live events and multiple millions of dollars in online games. He is moreover acclaimed as a master of the World Poker Tour.
Furthermore, this player reached the top 25 of the WSOP Main Event and won bracelets in 2002 at the World Series of Poker. Moreover, in 2009 Ivey managed to win his sixth bracelet by beating 147 participants in the No-Limit Draw Lowball Event and ultimately became the winner of the Commerce Casino LA Poker Classic for $1,596,100.
5. Chris Ferguson (Poker)
Chris Ferguson’s earnings: 80 million dollars. Similarly to other players on this table, Ferguson also began to game poker as a child. In the mid-90s, Chris Ferguson started to participate in various poker competitions, and in 1995 he took part in his first World Series.
Ferguson is considered to be one of the richest players in the USA and possesses six WSOP bracelets. Ferguson is distinguished among others by the fact that he is the only poker professional that has received three WSOP victories and six bracelets. This player possesses many remarkable features, for example, throwing cards with such speed that they cut through vegetables and fruits.
Summary
Keep in mind that gambling involves severe risk. Certain individuals succeeded in it, while others ended up losing everything. It is further essential to note that this table of the richest gamblers is approximate.