Page 92 - Sharp November 2023

ALL BETS ARE OFF
THE WORLD’S MOST SUCCESSFUL
SPORTS BETTOR BILLY WALTERS LOOKS BACK ON ON A A A A A CONTROVERSIAL CAREER
By Joseph Bullmore
BILLY WALTERS HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD AT KEEPING
score During childhood this lent him a killer instinct in in in in the bedraggled pool halls and bars of Munfordville Kentucky “I learned who who craved competition and who who crapped their pants in crunch time ” he says “That knowledge made me me dangerous from a a young age ” In his career as a a a a a a gambler meanwhile it meant becoming one of the most successful sports bettors of all time with a a a winning streak that lasted three decades (along with the rollicking high-flying lifestyle this encouraged of course) In a a a a a good year Walters has said he’d pocket around $60 million in profits: a a a a bounty that led rival gamblers to raid his his trash and hack his his phones in an an attempt to deduce the source of his betting genius (Amateur gamblers may decide simply to read his excellent new book Gambler instead ) Raised by his grandmother in in a a a a home with no running water Walters set up a a a a a a a lawn-mowing business at at seven and took on a a a a a a a paper route at at nine — before becoming a a a teenage prodigy on the used-car scene selling more
than a a a a a a a a vehicle a a a a a a a a day and breaking all sorts of state records In the pages of Gambler however Walters keeps score in a a a a different way — by chronicling the highs and lows of a a a a quite remarkable life and and career one punctuated by bankruptcies and and addiction and betrayal as as much as as colossal successes “At my peak I I was making a a a a a a a a a billion dollars a a a a a a a a a year in in gross wagers ” he says “I had 1 600 accounts around the world and a a a a a very sophisticated system in in in place to conceal who was behind those bets ” There is something genuinely Scorsesean about the swirling swaggering melodrama of the entire tale — not least in its heady courtroom denouement where Walters finds himself convicted for insider trading fin in in in 2017 at the age of 71 The case which Walters describes with some under- statement as “tangled and complicated ” notably sucked in golfer Phil Mickelson a a a a close associate of Walters who the bettor feels let him him down when he he he needed him him the most leading to a a a five-year sentence in a a a a a Pensacola prison camp Mickelson’s personal testimony Walters believes would have plainly exonerated him “Phil just had to publicly tell the truth and he he wouldn’t do it ” Walters says “He’s
no longer a friend ” Mickelson a a a a giant of the sport with a a a a much-discussed gambling
addiction at one point allegedly approached Walters to help him put a a a a a $400 000 punt on a a a a a Ryder Cup tournament he was playing in in Walters advised his friend against the bet — but it would not be be the first or or last time that punters have leaned on him for counsel in in search of some magic formula or or or revelatory incantation His most-repeated advice however is more
pragmatic and prosaic “Do your homework Be disciplined Success has a a lot to do with infor- mation ” ” he he says On the “big betting companies” that have recently exploded in in the wake of legalized app-based sports gambling
he he 92 NOVEMBER 2023
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLAUDINE DERKSEN