High Rollers | Whale: Alan Woods the Horse Racing Pioneer

The pioneer of computer betting syndicates, Australian Alan Woods took Hong Kong racing by storm. At the time of his death, Woods was recognized as one the top three gamblers in the world.

His Biography: Alan Woods Horse Racing Gambler
The late Alan Woods, died on January 26 2008 at age 62 in Hong Kong.  At the time of his death, and still now, Woods is regarded as one of the biggest and best gamblers in the world.
Woods was born in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia, in 1945.  His early gambling career, like his counterpart Bill Benter, was beating blackjack using math at his local casinos.

In the mid 1980s Woods found his way to Hong Kong, were he and Bill Benter teamed up to form a gambling syndicate that would become the most successful the horse racing industry had ever seen.

Using their mathematic skill, Benter and Woods developed a computer program, based on mathematics, to choose race winners based on formulaic consideration of track, form, weather and other factors.

Benter and Woods parted ways in the 1987, both continuing to find success.

A true mathematician, it has been said that Woods viewed racing was “nothing more than a mathematical equation to be solved”.

It may be for this reason that Woods was renowned for the fact that, in his twenty years in betting in Hong Kong, he did not once personally attend the racetrack. 
 In fact, after the split of Benter and Wood, Woods betting syndicate operated successfully in Hong Kong while Woods was in Manila. 

The annual turnover by Woods and his syndicate was estimated at about 2% of the Jockey Club’s annual betting turnover. While he never set up charitable organizations like his betting counterpart Benter, Woods was known to give generously to the Filipino community, also donating portions of his wealth to mental health research and Australian bridge.

At the time of his death, professional gambler Woods was estimated to have amassed a fortune of AUD$670 million.

Thanks to: Worlds Greatest Gamblers

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