High Profile Stories of "Beating the Bookies"

[aoluain]

I'm thinking it might be interesting to compile a list of interesting real life high profile/historical stories
about those who managed to beat the bookie's or beat the casino's and walk away with a bounty.

I can start it off with one going back to 1996 about a syndicate who tried to "Buy the Lottery" in Ireland.
They were somewhat successful but just about. They had a plan to buy all the combinations to
ensure winning, but they waited until there was a number of rollovers so that the jackpot meant it was worthwhile!

Anyway here is a details account of the incident >

From the former CEO of the Lottery
Ireland 1992: The Inside the story of a Bulk-Buying Scheme

thejournal.ie
'It had the feeling of a heist thriller': The man who tried to beat the Lotto

There was a movie made about this too > Trailer > https://youtu.be/8OuyoAWDmmo

[blomen]

you can't beat the lottery in the conventional sense, because the odds of winning are vastly different from casinos, with the house always having a clear advantage. we know that one of the most important factors for making money mathematically in these types of games of chance is the rtp.

i don't think this is the case nowadays, but back in the day, when the calculations for these games were done by people instead of powerful computers, some mistakes might have been made in the calculations, and observant people who noticed this rightly took advantage of it. however, i think this is impossible now. even the simplest casino has high-level security measures in place to prevent arbitrage and incorrect odds.

[Frankolala]

This thread shouldn't be used as a motivation to gamblers in order for them to feel that they can beat the bookie without luck. Few gamblers were able to achieve this but some of them couldn't quit gambling and ended up gambling back their huge wins in the casino and lost it all.

[Odusko]

Not trying to divert the discussion any ways, but I think beating the casino using an insider strategy is a federal offense with multiple years in federal prison,  something with insider trading on stock market assets share positions and how the market works, FBI tracked down some guy to my country that involves in such insider info abuse scheme that tries to beat the market, nice though to have a list of those bad guy's stories in one place, at least though that we know.

[iv4n]

Billy Walters — The Most Feared Sports Bettor Ever, Famously beat NFL, NBA, college sports:
-Used statistical models, insider info, and timing
-Known for betting millions per game
-Never bet early or late — always at the perfect line
-Spread bets across many bookmakers to avoid detection
-Forced bookmakers to move lines just because of his bets

Tony Bloom —  Is a professional poker player, sports gambler, and the owner of the English Premier League football club Brighton & Hove Albion. He is widely recognized for applying sophisticated mathematical and statistical models (often associated with his gambling syndicate, Starlizard) to both sports betting and football management

There are stories about people who beat the house... some of the stories are pretty famous. I am sure there are people who did it, but without bragging around. All in all, in all these stories there are similarities... they didn't bet on luck! Math, data, timing, information, discipline, respect the process... and of course a nice bankroll! We can say, boring spreadsheets, infinite calculations, zero emotion.

It's something that 99% of people simply aren't able to do...  

[Juse14]

This thread shouldn't be used as a motivation to gamblers in order for them to feel that they can beat the bookie without luck. Few gamblers were able to achieve this but some of them couldn't quit gambling and ended up gambling back their huge wins in the casino and lost it all.

It can only be a motivation as long as we can bet responsibly, it is enough to keep us safe gamblers, these stories are historical evidence and maybe there will be new history that will come with us here, with people who are motivated by what has happened in the past, it can be something extraordinary.
We have a chance to beat the bookie even though the chance is only 0.00001%, and indeed don't expect too much, just leave every number you release to luck.

[EluguHcman]

This thread shouldn't be used as a motivation to gamblers in order for them to feel that they can beat the bookie without luck. Few gamblers were able to achieve this but some of them couldn't quit gambling and ended up gambling back their huge wins in the casino and lost it all.

I think OP would had use this sense of your opinion to backup his thread after much of enlisting those enticing histories of those succeeded in beating house edge with their one way and the others strategies so that it does not stand as misleading others.
We verily sure knows that there are still many gamblers who had been lavishing effortlessly to hit the jackpot but instead of becoming successful, they are loosing even up to their breaths out.

It or course sounds good too learn about these successful house edge beaters but not Worth daring to become one otherwise will lost beyond we can imagine.

[FirmWars]

The first link you added did not open, I don't know if the problem is from my end but I wanted to confirm if it's same thing as the The Run, the run was also one of the high profile stories in gambling that tells how the gambler turned $50 to $40 million and it happened between 1992 and 1995 and from your link's hyper text, I'm also seeing the event took place in 1992.

[Churchillvv]

Success stories are sweet until you figure out how they ended up in life generally and how they spent the wins you will be discouraged a little bit but then when you figure out how much they have lost in the process to achieve this success in beating the house edge you will also not want to risk it because amongst 100 individuals who will try it out only 1 or two will success which means the chance to beat a house is very low even when you try your possible best. Hence having these stories is only appealing to the ears but not good to try out.

[Mindyspace]

These stories are quite interesting, but they're totally out of the ordinary. It's almost never about outsmarting the casino, but rather about exploiting a loophole that doesn't last long and requires a lot of money, balance, and organization. We only hear about those who almost succeeded or actually did, but not about those who tried and went broke. Interesting as a curiosity, but terrible as an example for anyone who thinks it's possible to beat casinos in the long run. 

[stadus]

I’ve always loved watching documentaries related to gambling, especially sports betting. But since you mentioned the lottery too, there’s actually a movie I found really interesting. It’s a fun one about an older couple who discover a loophole in a lottery game.

Check out Jerry and Marge Go Large. It’s surprisingly entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GMRq2kjMHI

[sunsilk]

If that story in Ireland makes them believed that they've beaten the lottery system, that's good for them.

So, it's not only about the money that they have won from it but also the satisfaction that they have carved in history for assumingly beating the lottery.

I have only firstly read that story from this thread so, if there will be more stories to come, let's have it folks.

[Yaunfitda]

How about those story of a group of family that try to beat the casinos, specially roulette games as they try to find a bias roulette machine and then bet on those bias numbers? They almost was able to get away from it until the casino caught up with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX6Zdxf5PPg

And they were ban from playing or the roulette tables was shift every time so that the family won't identify which one is a bias machine. But their legacy lives on as there could be others who see this as a way to beat the casinos or found other strategies for themselves.

[mcdouglasx]

I think the way someone could profit from lotteries with some kind of strategy must be by exploiting a loophole in the system that makes it vulnerable, because otherwise the house will always have its advantage no matter what we do, but who knows... there are people who become obsessed with these things to the point of finding these kinds of strategies that take advantage of the loopholes or weaknesses in the system until these are corrected.

[aoluain]

Billy Walters — The Most Feared Sports Bettor Ever, Famously beat NFL, NBA, college sports:
-Used statistical models, insider info, and timing
-Known for betting millions per game
-Never bet early or late — always at the perfect line
-Spread bets across many bookmakers to avoid detection
-Forced bookmakers to move lines just because of his bets

Tony Bloom —  Is a professional poker player, sports gambler, and the owner of the English Premier League football club Brighton & Hove Albion. He is widely recognized for applying sophisticated mathematical and statistical models (often associated with his gambling syndicate, Starlizard) to both sports betting and football management

There are stories about people who beat the house... some of the stories are pretty famous. I am sure there are people who did it, but without bragging around. All in all, in all these stories there are similarities... they didn't bet on luck! Math, data, timing, information, discipline, respect the process... and of course a nice bankroll! We can say, boring spreadsheets, infinite calculations, zero emotion.

It's something that 99% of people simply aren't able to do...  

I checked out the info regarding Billy Walters and his 'Computer Group' and
how they used computers to make his bets, that was back in the 70's and 80's,
arguably the early days of computers so this gave him a slight advantage.

I wonder if AI can facilitate someone smart enough to utilize it an edge?
Thats for another discussion I suppose.

I’ve always loved watching documentaries related to gambling, especially sports betting. But since you mentioned the lottery too, there’s actually a movie I found really interesting. It’s a fun one about an older couple who discover a loophole in a lottery game.

Check out Jerry and Marge Go Large. It’s surprisingly entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GMRq2kjMHI

And thats based on another true story I have just found out!

[iv4n]

I checked out the info regarding Billy Walters and his 'Computer Group' and
how they used computers to make his bets, that was back in the 70's and 80's,
arguably the early days of computers so this gave him a slight advantage.

I wonder if AI can facilitate someone smart enough to utilize it an edge?
Thats for another discussion I suppose.

Well, today it's different... modern bookies also use AI. They track so many things... bet timing, bet types, other stuff for sure, and I believe they do it across many platforms. We all know that people don't get banned for losing, people get limited in various ways because they are winning. So it's hard to stay anonymous and spread your bets like it was before, so when you can't bet freely, you can't scale.

So it's hard to beat modern bookies, but not impossible... there's that 1%. I am not even close to that... I lack discipline big time, and I am "weak" in some other important things.

[purple_sparkles]

I know that some players in real casinos watch slot machines and even make arrangements with staff to track which machines are heavily loaded with money, since it’s easier to hit a jackpot on them. In the past, it was also possible to place bets with different bookmakers, calculate probabilities, and make a profit from the differences in odds between various bookmakers. That way, even if you lost in one bookmaker, you could cover it with a win in another. This was called arbitrage, and such players were known as arbers. However, this never had a serious impact on the profits of casinos and bookmakers, even though such tricks were still actively suppressed. That’s why I don’t believe that anyone has come up with something truly grand, revolutionary, and 100% foolproof. And if the effort spent on such schemes were directed in the right direction, it would be possible to gain benefits much faster.

[Findingnemo]

I remember watching a movie starring W.W, the concept is to beat the lottery with a loophole of buying possible combination and he was succeeded in it and later it was revealed that the lottery company kept it intentionally for their benefits. I don't remember the exact story but that's the overview of it.

I never know about any real life incidents and even if there is, it must be so rare that odds of finding is even slim than hitting the lottery.

[uche6215]

Well I will say that these stories are inspirational as they will go along way in helping many Gambler's to have a believe in what they do and come up with strategies that, will be favorably to themselves. But it should be clearly stated that when it comes to gambling the odds are completely against us. This is because the Casino controls the rules and it a fight where your opponents is the one in charge of the rules you are said be at a disadvantaged position and this is the story of how gambling works.

[Agbamoni]

you can't beat the lottery in the conventional sense, because the odds of winning are vastly different from casinos, with the house always having a clear advantage. we know that one of the most important factors for making money mathematically in these types of games of chance is the rtp.

Dont trust all casino RTP, it is not always the way they claim it is. I have heard several experiences of some casinos which I do not want to name. But the RTP is not what they claim it is.

When it comes to the casino against gamblers, they will always have hedge against us. Whether RTP or not, the odds are in their favour.