I was making money when I was younger and I was a professional gambler, I still quit and get on with a new life. Becoming a professional gambler is a lonely and depressing journey, get on with a new life my friend.
Gambling for a living might sound like a great deal. After all, who wouldn’t want to play games of chance for a living?
- Gambling is not a way to make money unless it is the way you normally make money.
- Marty Mush explains key gambling points.Check out Barstool Sports for more: Follow Barstool Sports here: Facebook: https://fac.
The problem is that it’s impossible to make a living playing most gambling games. And when you get good enough at a gambling activity to earn a living at it, the game often loses its “fun factor.”
That being said, some people do gamble for a living and enjoy that lifestyle. If you think professional gambling might be something you’d like to do, this post offers some insights into the pros and cons of gambling for a living.
Con – No Benefits Package
Gambling is the ultimate independent contractor position. This means that you don’t get paid vacation, medical benefits, or anything else you’d consider a normal benefit from having a job somewhere. Even your retirement fund is entirely your responsibility.
This isn’t the end of the world, though. Like other independent contractors, if you budget well enough, you can take as many days off each year as you like.
If you’re not sitting at the poker table, so to speak, you’re not earning. But if you know anything about being a schoolteacher, you’ll recognize a similar principle.
Teachers get summers off, and they still draw a paycheck. This doesn’t mean they’re getting paid for the 2 months they’re off in the summer, though. It just means that the administration is parceling out the money for a 10-month work year over the course of 12 months.
You’ll need to do something similar if you want to take paid days off as a professional gambler.
As far as health benefits go, you can buy your own health insurance now through Obamacare. Some might argue that Obamacare is more expensive than insurance through a company, but part of that is because some companies subsidize some of the cost of your health insurance.
As far as retirement goes, you could theoretically register a corporation and set up a 401k for yourself. But you also have the ability to set up a Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account). Both of these options have tax benefits, but it’s up to you to determine which is more appropriate for your situation.
The hassle of putting together your own benefits package is one of the biggest drawbacks of being a professional gambler.
Pro- No Boss to Answer To
Obviously, if you don’t get along with authority figures, gambling might be better for you than working for some suit in an office somewhere. You do still deal with some authority figures—casino personnel—but it’s not like they have much control over you. They can’t fire you—although they can ban you from the casino if you’re counting cards.
A friend of mine once told me, “It sounds like you have problems with authority figures?”
“You have no idea,” I replied.
I’ve been an independent contractor and owned my own companies for years now. I don’t miss having a boss, I can promise you that.
Con – Inconsistent Earnings
I had a good friend who played professional poker online during the poker boom. He told me that he earned 6 figures a month, 5 months out of 6.
But 1 month out of 6, he saw a loss for the month.
Not everyone has the wherewithal to handle swings in their income like that. That’ll just plain rattle some folks.
No matter what kind of gambling you do for a living, you’re going to deal with short-term variance. In layman’s terms, even when you’re getting the best of it, you’ll have streaks of bad luck.
Being able to continue to gamble with an edge in the face of that streak of bad luck requires a certain temperament that many people don’t have. It also requires a large bankroll, because without a bankroll, you’re out of action.
And if you’re out of the action, you can’t earn a living gambling.
Pro – You’re Playing a Game for a Living
Okay, so this might be the biggest draw. If you enjoy playing poker or blackjack, or if you enjoy betting on sports, you’re basically getting to do what you love and get paid for it. That’s a hard pro to ignore.
The problem is that it’s not enough to just enjoy the game you’re playing. You have to be good enough at it to make a profit on a consistent basis. And some people learn that playing a game to such high standards isn’t as much fun as playing for recreation.
Remember, there’s nothing wrong with being a recreational gambler. It’s your money, and as long as you’re taking good care of the rest of your financial commitments, losing a little money betting on football, playing poker, or playing blackjack is just fine.
In fact, it’s probably important that you don’t overestimate your skill level. You’ll find plenty of blog posts describing how easy it is to count cards. But the number of people who can make a living at it is smaller than you might think.
Gambling professionally requires a certain kind of temperament that most people just don’t have.
Con – Social Pressure
Some people won’t approve of the way you make your living. Your wife might want you to do something more traditional to support the family. Your parents might be disappointed that you’re not putting that degree (that they paid for) to use.
If you want to succeed as a professional gambler, you need to be able to withstand this kind of social pressure. It’s not easy.
I quit my job over 10 years ago to run my own business. My wife was terribly distraught. I made a fortune, though, and it was the right decision for me. It was just so far outside her comfort zone that she couldn’t handle it.
Some people won’t understand your dream. That’s okay. Follow it anyway if it’s that important to you.
Pro – A Sense of Agency
When you work as an employee of a company, you have little control over your destiny. Your day-to-day activities are usually decided for you by management. Your compensation package, including how much your salary increases year-over-year, is also determined by management. If you want to take a day off, you must comply with corporate policies and ask for approval/permission.
This doesn’t lend itself to a sense of agency on the part of the employee. Sure, some companies allow their employees more latitude to decide what to do and when. And some companies pay you salary plus commission, or even commission only, which puts your income back in your influence. Some managers might be really flexible with your time off, too.
But these are the exceptions, not the rules. Even if you get to adjust your own priorities, you still have a job description that was written by someone else. The company decides your commission percent, and they can (and often do) change it any time they want to.
And even if you do your job well, that doesn’t mean the company succeeds. If management is incompetent, you might lose your job just because the company goes out of business.
None of this compares with the amount of control you have as a professional gambler. You decide when you want to gamble and what you choose to bet on. How well you do determines your income. And if you want a day off, you just don’t place any bets that day.
That’s what I mean by “agency”—it’s the ability to choose your destiny in a real sense. The only limits to your agency are those imposed by your bankroll and skill level.
Not everyone needs or wants this sense of agency. Some people prefer to have someone else making the decisions. They might think it’s a fair trade to get a benefits package and a reasonable sense of job security.
Con – Dealing with Unsavory Types
Making A Gambler Barstool
You’re not necessarily going to deal with the criminal element as a professional gambler, but you’re more likely to deal with shady characters as a professional gambler than if you were in some other profession.
Think about it—if you’re betting with the neighborhood bookie you met through your buddy at the local bar, you’re dealing with someone who’s a career criminal. Sure, it’s a victimless crime, but bookmaking over the phone violates federal law. Some people think that’s a big deal.
The people who open and operate underground poker cardrooms are sometimes the nicest people in the world, too. But they’re not usually the upper crust of respected citizens, either.
I like dealing with shady characters, but only up to a point. I don’t like drug dealers, for example, especially the ones who deal in harder drugs. But not everyone you meet as a professional gambler is that unsavory.
Pro – Social Status with Some Groups
In some circles, being a professional gambler will earn you a lot of respect. This is the opposite of one of the earlier cons, which suggested that there’s a social stigma attached to gambling for a living.
The difference is the people who have disdain for gambling versus the people who have respect for it.
Some people are religious or have other moral objections to gambling. Some just have a Puritan work ethic and think you should earn your money via the sweat of your brow.
But some people admire and respect professional gamblers. They think it’s exciting or romantic. Or maybe they just realize how much self-discipline and skill is required to succeed as an advantage player.
You’ll need to decide for yourself which group of people you prefer admiring you.
Con – You Need a Bankroll
No matter what kind of gambling you’re going to engage in to make a living, you’ll need a bankroll—probably a big one.
If you’ve done the research and study to know how to beat gambling, you’ll know that in the short run, anything can happen. You can make all the right decisions and still go broke. The only way to prevent that is to have so much money in your bankroll that you’re confident that you won’t go broke before seeing the long-term mathematical expectation start to look like reality.
Poker players go broke. Blackjack players go broke. Sports bettors go broke.
But they only go broke for 1 of 2 reasons:
- Their bankroll wasn’t big enough, and short-term variance did them in
- They thought they had an advantage when they didn’t
If you want to make $20/hour counting cards at blackjack, your best bet of not going broke is having a bankroll of $20,000.
Being a gambler is like owning your own business. You need capital to keep that business running. One of my earliest mentors was David Litman, founder of Hotels.com. He told me that the #1 reason businesses fail is because they’re undercapitalized and have cash-flow problems. He impressed on me the need for a business to be profitable as soon as possible.
Let your career as a gambler be advised by his wise words.
Conclusion
Let’s face it. Being a professional gambler isn’t for everyone. It has its perks, but it also has some serious drawbacks. A lot of your decision about whether professional gambling is an appropriate career for you should be based on your own temperament.
What pros and cons on the list above matter more to you than others?
If you’re seriously considering a career as a pro gambler, I suggest using the Ben Franklin close on yourself. Make your own list of pros and cons on a sheet of paper. Cross out the pros that outweigh the cons. Sometimes a pro might matter so much that it will outweigh 2 or 3 cons, so keep that in mind on your personal list.
And don’t fret. Even if gambling professionally doesn’t work out, you can always return to the rat race if that’s what you want.
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Being a gambler is an extremely risky proposition. There are some people that have pulled it off. Here are the richest gamblers in the world, including some tips on how to make money gambling.
If your favorite guilty pleasure is placing a wager at the gaming tables, you’re probably living in hope that you’ll one day win an enormous jackpot. Building wealth really is easy. Just find a hobby or craft. Get really good at it. Then, scale it.
If you’re ready to find the best place to try gambling so you can start your journey to riches today and click here.
I’ve used a number of different tools to track my wealth over time. Most of them are free and extremely easy to use.
One example is Personal Capital. A completely free platform to track your money. This was instrumental in me building my wealth and cash flow over time.
There are plenty of gamblers out there who’ve done just that and who are now living a lifestyle beyond your wildest dreams.
If you’ve already visited and chosen a particular game to win cash. You now might be waiting for your dreams to come true, you might be inspired by the tales behind some of the richest gamblers in the world.
If you don’t like forking up cash, you might want to consider free money giveaways.
I’ve covered millionaire farmers, but now we cover a less straightforward approach to wealth… gambling
How to Make Money Gambling
Most casino games have a favorable advantage and you are playing against the odds. If you want to make money gambling, you have to focus on games that you can gain an edge. In order to make money gambling, you must be very disciplined and determined for success.
Professional gamblers are very keen on winning. They’ve studied what works well for them and what doesn’t. You can apply the same theories to anything you do.
In addition, pro gamblers have realized that they need to make consistent value bets, which mean that you put out money where you have a slight edge in winning. If you don’t follow this, your chances of winning consistently will be zero.
You have to approach investing the same way and I’ve covered that in my book Dividend Investing Your Way to Financial Freedom.
Games that are best to try to make money gambling:
- Poker
- Blackjack
- Baccarat
- Fantasy sports
I’ve been a big player of fantasy sports. While luck is a serious component, there is no doubt in my mind that skill is the majority. In addition, I’ve played poker and enjoy playing it. I will never turn down a good poker game.
Gambling is a tough way to make money, but you can make money instantly if you are good.
List of the Richest Gamblers in the World
Here, you’ll find a rundown of some of the most successful players at the tables, and you might get some top tips that will help you to improve your game. Pro gamblers continue to look for an edge in order to succeed.
There’s definitely a difference between rich and wealthy, but either way, these gamblers made out very well.
1. Bill Benter – Maths Genius Supreme
Bill is a perfect example of how to make money gambling. He used math and provide analytics to make money at the casinos.
Born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1957, Bill Benter is a self-proclaimed mathematical genius. Having studied physics at university, he put his skills to good use, learning how to count cards. Having honed the art, he headed to Las Vegas where he plied his trade at the blackjack tables.
He was so successful that he was finally banned from all the top Sin City casinos within seven years.
However, Benter wasn’t ready to call it a day. Instead, he relocated to Hong Kong and began working with Alan Woods on a formula to predict the most likely outcome in horse races.
The result was the first gambling operation in the world to be assisted by software, and it is still regarded as the most successful model today.
Benter is now believed to be raking in around $100 million every year thanks to his formula, and he has been rumored to have collected up to $10 million on just one race day.
2. Edward E. Thorp – Card Counter Extraordinaire
Edward E Thorp invented the skill we know today as card counting. Born in 1932 in Chicago, Thorp earned a PhD in maths at UCLA then began to work there as a professor.
Mr. Thorp was the first person to ever use computer simulation in the development of a strategy for blackjack, and he created a card-counting scheme which would improve the odds for the player.
He first tested his calculations in the casinos of Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Reno and thus proved his theories to be valid.
Making A Gambler Barstool
He then penned his book “Beat the Dealer”, still considered to be the definitive guide to the art of card counting.
Ahead of his time, Edward Thorp also invented the wearable computer in 1961 which he used at both blackjack and roulette tables for over two decades until it was finally banned in the mid-1980s.
His skills at the gaming table paired with his ability to predict the movements of the stock market have led to a fortune of approximately $800 million.
See Related: How to Watch Ads for Money
3. Zeljko Ranogajec – An Advantage Gambler
Ranogajec, the son of Croatian immigrants, decided to give up his university education in favor of a life of advantage gambling. With his impressive maths skills and a photographic memory, he began playing blackjack and soon found he could turn a $100 bet into a 7-figure win.
Soon, the Australian casinos got wise to his abilities, and he ended up being banned. Undeterred.
Making A Gambler Gif
However, he turned his talents to the world of horse betting. His mathematical skill helped him to predict the outcome of the races, and he soon became a billionaire.
Although he has never publicly confirmed his fortune, it’s believed that he could account for as much as 8% of Tabcorp’s turnover. He has certainly known to have had a record Keno win in the 1990s in the sum of $7.5 million.
4. Billy Walters – A Serious Sports Bettor
Anyone who knows anything about sports betting knows about Billy Walters. Having had a humble start to life, Walters was the son of a poker player and the nephew of a professional gambler, so it wasn’t surprising that he began gambling at just nine years old.
Three decades later, he was fined for running an illegal bookmaking service and relocated to Las Vegas where he works with analysts to improve his decision-making.
It is reported that he makes around $15 million every year and is rumored to have scored up to $2 million in a single day.
He has an estimated net worth of $200 million.
While he is banned from betting in Vegas and barred from most bookmakers, he now uses celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Bruce Willis to place wagers for him!
5. Alan Woods – A Pioneer in Horse Race Betting
Alan Woods is sometimes called the godfather of horse betting software. The Australian pioneer was born in 1945, and during the first few years of his gambling career, he was a card counter at the blackjack table.
During the 1980s, he relocated to Hong Kong where he got together with Bill Benter to develop horse racing software that could accurately predict the outcome of races based on form, weather and track.
When Woods died back in 2008, he was believed to be one of the world’s best and biggest gamblers with a fortune to his name of $670 million AUD.
See Related: Best Money Management Tips
6. Patrik Antonius – A Poker Star
Poker star Patrik Antonius has the honor of being the first poker player ever to win a seven-figure pot in an online poker game, having won a hand worth $1,377,000.
Born in Finland in 1976, the professional gambler continues to equally divide his gambling time between Monte Carlo and Las Vegas. Antonius wasn’t always set on a career in poker playing, in fact, he originally aspired to be a tennis player.
However, an injury to his back led him down a different path. When he was young, he enjoyed playing card games with friends, and later he traveled to Helsinki’s casino to play in tournaments.
Soon, he progressed to playing online poker and went professional a few years later in 2002. He relocated to Las Vegas and focused solely on the game. Just a year later, he ranked among Europe’s top internet poker players, and today he is believed to be one of the world’s best PLO players.
To date, Antonius is Finland’s all-time top moneymaker with total career earnings to date coming to more than $4 million.
See Related: List of Apps That Pay You Real Money
7. Phil Ivey – A Poker Icon
Phil is the riskiest version of how to make money gambling. He uses his skills but at the same time he’s taken on a lot of risk.
Having earned the title of the greatest poker player in the world, Phil Ivey is famous for having no less than 5 wins in the World Series of Poker Tournament before the age of 30.
Ivey is the same age as Antonius but was raised on the other side of the Atlantic in New Jersey. He learned to play poker at a very early age, with his grandfather teaching him how to play 5 card stud.
It’s no wonder, then, that Ivey’s professional move into gambling came at a very young age. He won the World Series of Poker title for the first time at the age of 23, beating famous players like Amarillo Slim and Phil Hellmuth.
His personal fortune has reached figures or more than $14 million, and he is believed to be one of the toughest players to beat. Unlike many of the other gamblers on this list, Ivey doesn’t use mathematical skill to win games.
He believes in taking risks, and it’s a strategy that’s paying off for him.
See Related: Jobs that Pay Cash Daily
Conclusion on Richest Gamblers in the World
Have you been inspired to place your next wager? These gambling legends are proof that with the right skills and enough determination you can make your fortune at the gaming table or on the race track.
These are all far different than the traditional income opportunities for financial freedom.
What do you think of the richest gamblers in the world? Would you consider a career or side hustle in gambling? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
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