Casino Legends: 5 Famous Gamblers in History

Throughout history, some individuals have become famous figures in the world of gambling, not just for their incredible wins and devastating losses, but for the unique marks they've left on the industry. These gamblers, through daring risk-taking, strategic prowess, and sometimes sheer audacity, have etched their names into the annals of casino folklore. From billionaires who gamble with fortunes to mathematical geniuses who outsmart the odds, their stories captivate and inspire. Here, we explore the lives and legacies of some of the most famous gamblers in history.

Five Famous Gamblers in History

• KERRY PACKER
• CHARLIE WELLS
• ARCHIE KARAS
• FRANCOIS BLANC
• BILL BENTER
• THE LEGACY OF THESE FAMOUS GAMBLERS

KERRY PACKER

Kerry Packer achieved much in his 68 years. As a child he beat polio, then as an adult he turned the family-owned print-media business into a broadcast-media empire. He founded World Series Cricket, won big on the stock market and famously sold and bought the Australian television channel Nine Network for a tidy billion-dollar profit.

Despite these successes, it is often not boardroom achievements that Kerry is best remembered for, but instead his love for casinos – and his extraordinary generosity to casino staff.

In casinos, Kerry bet with such vigour that it would terrify the floor bosses. This was because Kerry’s bets were in amounts that many would never even dream of sums that had the potential to affect a casino’s stock price if he won!

Kerry occasionally won big – taking the MGM Grand for a reported $20 million while playing $250,000 a hand blackjack. He lost big too, with a notorious blackjack session at the Ritz Hotel costing him over £19 million. Overall, it is thought that over his lifetime Kerry racked up a net loss of around £20 million in Vegas alone – losses that only a billionaire can swallow.

The extraordinary wins and losses aside, it is Kerry’s astonishing generosity towards casino staff that will live long in casino folklore. On one occasion he paid off a waitress’s mortgage. On another, he played two $10,000 hands in blackjack and told the dealer he could keep the winnings. On yet another occasion he gave away his brand-new Mercedes to a valet.

Oh, and that $20 million win? Rumour has it that the casino staff won big that night too, as Kerry gifted them a third of winnings in tips!

CHARLIE WELLS

We travel back in time to 1891 for our next famous gambler, Charlie Wells, British-born Charlie was an inventor who had gained a reputation of ill-repute in France throughout the 1880’s. Having patented one invention to secure a 5,000-franc windfall, Charlie promptly lost it all in Monte Carlo. At this stage, Charlie’s reputation as an inventor of note was intact, but it would be in tatters by the end of the decade.

 In order to fund his gambling, Charlie embezzled money from investors and promptly delivered the funds to the coffers of whichever casino he decided to frequent. Charlie was, by all accounts, a terrible gambler.

Then something interesting happened. In 1891, armed with around £4,000 (c. £400,000 today), Charlie marched into a Monte Carlo casino to play roulette. He embarked on one of the most famous winning streaks of all time, breaking the bank of the casino twice on his way to winning the equivalent of £4 million!

Charlie claimed his success was down to using the famous Martingale strategy, but of course many speculated that the accomplished inventor and famous fraudster had won through nefarious means.

Charlie’s infamy continued to grow after his Monte Carlo success (heist?), and he would find himself imprisoned twice following a scheme in which he set up a fraudulent bank in Paris and lost his customer’s deposits in the casino.

Charlie is one of only five people to “break the bank” in Monte Carlo – and the only person to do it twice. This inspired a famous Victorian song to be written about him, the concisely named The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo. However, the legacy that he will be remembered for is that of a convicted fraudster who damamged and destoryed an unfathomabe number of lives for his own benefit.

ARCHIE KARAS

Anargyros Nicholas Karabourniotis, better known as Archie Karas, arrived in California from Greece when he was juist 17 years old, with little money and even less English. However, his story is absolutely a cautionary tale about knowing when to stop, as  Archie manage to round-trip his way from zero to $40 million and all the way back again to zero.

Along the way the way Archie became famous for “The Run” - the longest documented winning streak in casino history. He also became infamous for eye-wateringly large losses and cheating. Eventually, he made his way into Nevada state’s “black book” and was banned from every casino in the state.

Upon arriving in California, Archie started working in a bowling alley which is where his gambling legend began. The bowling alley had both a poker and pool room where Archie discovered that his lack of English did not prevent him from becoming a shark at both games! It is thought that Archie went on to win more than $2 million dollars in the following 20 years. However, in a theme that seems to thread through his life, Archie also lost it all – except for $50.

Refusing to give up, Archie took himself and his $50 to the bright lights of Las Vegas. Upon arriving in Sin City, Archie began playing pool for money leaving opponents beaten and their wallets empty. “The Run” had begun! One story from the early days of The Run was that of one of his opponents, a nameless Mr X, a famous businessman who lost an incredible $1.2 million to Archie’s pool skills.  Mr X tired of losing pool, so the two turned to poker. Mr X was a former poker world champion, yet even he was no match for Archie as he lost a further $3 million to the Greek.

Before long Archie was beating routinely beating poker legends such as Stu Unger and Puggy Pearson as his winnings swelled to over $17 million. In 1995 he took his newfound wealth to the craps table and carried on winning and the former bowling lane attendee was now worth $40 million!

They say hindsight is 20/20, and in hindsight Archie really should have quit while he was ahead and stopped there. Unfortunately for him he did not. His luck ran out and The Run came to a crashing halt. In just one three-week period at the tail end of 1995, he lost $11 million playing craps, then baccarat relieved him of a further $16 milliion. Following a holiday in Greece he came back to Vegas and promptly lost another $12 million.

Then came the cheating. In September 2013 he was playing blackjack in San Diego, but he was found guilty of marking cards. This gained him unwanted entry into that famous black book, and soon one of Vegas’ most famous gamblers was banned from entering any of its casinos.

FRANCOIS BLANC

If you are asked about which city you think is the biggest gambling city in the world, you are likely to think about Las Vegas or Macau, maybe even London or Atlantic City. However, if you are asked which is the most glamorous gambling city in the winner, then there will surely only be one answer: Monte Carlo! However, without the interjection of Francois Blanc, it is possible that Monte Carlo would look much, much different today.

Born in 1806, Francois Blanc had had a rollercoaster life before eventually moving The Principality. As young boys, he and his brother followed the circus for a year, both discovering they had almost insatiable appetites for learning card tricks. As they moved from childhood to adulthood, they found themselves in Marseille earning decent money in the gambling business before turning their attention to speculating on government pensions.

While they were quite successful, their business became outlawed in France and the brothers had to quickly relocate to Luxemburg to avoid prison. This would turn out to be a stroke of fortune as it was there that Francois met the monarch of Hesse-Homborg.

At the time, Hesse-Homborg was a city in dire straits. It could not pay their debts and desperately needed to improve its tourism industry to survive. Having been impressed by the Blanc brothers, the monarch invited them to assist. The Blanc’s took on the challenge and built the city into one of Europe’s premier gambling destinations. Such was their success that Francois was soon bestowed with the nickname “Magician of Homborg”.

However, their success in bringing tourists to the city led the monarch to believe that gambling was no longer required, and it was outlawed. Francois now had no city to call home, nor did he have a casino. He did, however, have a plan and that plan was Monte Carlo!

Monte Carlo in the late 1850’s was not the Monte Carlo you see today. The Principality had financial troubles, had poor connectivity to the rest of Europe and its infrastructure was much-less developed than in the rest of Europe. Where many others saw only problems, Francois saw opportunity. He quickly secured the honour of managing gambling in Monte Carlo in 1860 and set to work.

Francois knew that the main hindrance to Monte Carlo becoming a tourist destination was how difficult it was to get to. Importantly, there were no railways by which Europe’s elite could travel to this little slice of paradise. Francois decided to gamble and invested his own money to improve the roads and railway system to better connect his fief to the rest of Europe. At the same time, he set about building a casino that would be the envy of the world, and in 1863 the Monte Carlo Casino made its debut.

The casino was an unbridled success, with wealthy visitors happy to visit Monte Carlo all year round thanks to its sunny climate. The profits began to flow, and Francois soon reinvested to develop more businesses to serve his burgeoning list of wealthy clientele. Soon he had shed the “Magician of Homborg” moniker and became known as the “Magician of Monte Carlo”, the man who made Monte Carlo what it is today!

BILL BENTER

Unlike many gamblers who rely on sheer luck, Bill Benter’s success is grounded in mathematics and technology. Benter, an American born in 1957, became one of the most successful gamblers in history through his application of statistical modeling to sports betting, horse racing in particular. His journey into the world of gambling began in the 1980s when he moved to Las Vegas to try his luck at blackjack.

Armed with a physics degree, Benter was well-equipped to take advantage of any mathematical weaknesses there may be in casino games. He studied the techniques of the famous MIT Blackjack Team and quickly mastered card counting. This strategy allowed him to gain a substantial edge over the casinos. However, as he grew more successful, he faced increasing scrutiny and eventually found himself to be persona non gratis and banned from most of the casinos in Las Vegas.

This setback did not deter Benter. Instead, it prompted him to seek new opportunities. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Hong Kong, where he found an entirely different challenge: horse racing. Hong Kong’s horse racing scene was lucrative and competitive, with billions wagered annually. Benter recognised that the principles of probability and statistics he had applied to blackjack could also be applied to horse racing.

Benter teamed up with Alan Woods, an Australian gambler with a similar interest in statistical analysis. Together, they developed one of the most sophisticated and successful horse racing prediction algorithms ever created. Their approach was to use computers to analyse vast amounts of data on horses, jockeys, trainers, and track conditions. This data-driven approach allowed them to identify patterns and probabilities that were invisible to the casual bettor.

The model they created was continuously refined over the years. They incorporated more variables and adjusted their algorithms to improve accuracy. By the late 1980s, their system was so effective that it was generating millions of dollars in winnings each year. Unlike traditional gamblers who might rely on gut feeling or insider tips, Benter’s method was purely scientific, relying on the cold, hard facts of statistical analysis.

One of the keys to Benter’s success was his disciplined approach to betting. He and his team placed thousands of small bets rather than risking large sums on a few races. This strategy minimised their risk while maximizing their chances of winning. Over time, this method proved incredibly successful, and Benter became a millionaire many times over.

Despite his success, Benter remained relatively unknown outside of gambling circles for many years. He did not seek the limelight and preferred to keep a low profile. However, his impact on the world of gambling was profound. His use of statistical modeling and technology revolutionised horse racing betting and inspired a new generation of gamblers to adopt similar methods.

THE LEGACY OF THESE FAMOUS GAMBLERS

The world of gambling is often one of high stakes and even higher drama, where fortunes can be won or lost in the blink of an eye. The stories of these legendary gamblers—each with their unique approach and impact—highlight the many different paths to success and infamy in this unpredictable space. Some, like Billl Benter are still revered today for seemingly outsmarting the bookmakers with his innovative use of technology. Conversely many have some pity for Archie Karas, who seemingly had it all, but a lack of control and desperation saw him lose everything.

Whatever your feelings are about these famous stories, we would also urge you treat the stories of Charlie Wells and Archie Karas as cautonary tales about the pitfalls of chasing loses and losing control when playing in the casino. Remember the safer gambling tools that are here for your support, and when the fun stops, so should you!