High Rollers | Whale: William Benter the Horse Racing Legend

American gambler William Benter developed arguably the most successful computer software in the world to attack the giant Hong Kong horse racing market, where the pools routinely reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars. During the 2010 racing season alone the betting turnover reached HK$71.65 billion, on just two racetracks! By comparison, all the thoroughbred racetracks in the U.S. combined take in just over $12 billion.

William Benter's software reportedly assesses hundreds of individual variables for each horse, jockey, trainer and track. Using the results, Benter and his team create their own prices and probabilities, and use these to bet against the general public. With amazing success. The rumours are wild, but estimates are that Bill Benter earns something around US$10,000,000 annually from Hong Kong horse racing.

More than any other industry, Horse Racing is based on emotion and feelings, people place bets based on everything from the horse's name to tips from a friend. Nowhere more than the notoriously supersticious Hong Kong race-tracks. William Benter used computer logic to beat the system, and make millions!

His Biography:
William Benter (Bill Benter), Horse Racing Legend Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, William Benter began using his mathematics skills to count cards.  Legend has it that in the mid 1970s Benter came across the book “Beat the Dealer”, memorized it’s strategies and began his professional gambling career at the blackjack tables of Las Vegas.

At the same time Bill Benter was being banned from most of the Vegas’ strip’s casinos (for winning too much money), he met fellow card counter Alan Woods, and the pair decided to have a shot at horse racing.

In 1984, Benter and Woods went Hong Kong, starting with a mere $150,000.  The pair relied on their mathematic skill to create a formula for choosing race winners.

When Woods and Benter parted ways, in 1987, Benter refined his computerised probability model.  William Benter is now known as having the best statistical handicap method, assigning numerical values to estimate a horse’s probability of winning.

Benter has acknowledged that the increase in computer technology have helped his team’s workload over the years, while greater experience has also allowed this professional punter more accurate betting.  For example, while Benter started out examining only 16 variables for each horse in a race, it is now alleged that his team score horses on120 different handicapping factors.

William Benter’s pioneering work with computerized betting, his mathematical skill and knowledge, all have made him one of the most successful gamblers the horse racing industry had ever seen.
Benter is generous with his fortune, donating to charitable causes both in Hong Kong and America.  His has even served as president of his Hong Kong Rotary Club.

Thanks to: Worlds Greatest Gamblers