Alan Woods

Alan Woods

Alan Woods was a legend in the gambling Industry. He gambled professionally in Australia and Hong Kong and was considered by mathematicians to be the biggest gambler in the world.

He mainly focused on Blackjack and Horse Racing and worked with Bill Benter and Zeljko Ranogajec during his gambling career. He pioneered quantitive gambling by betting on Hong Kong horse races and gave Bill Benter the idea to bet on Horse Racing in Hong Kong.

Alan Woods Gambling Career

It’s by no means an overstatement to say Alan Woods was the gambler who started the horse racing betting. He did not place bets on gut feelings; instead, he decided to use the same algorithms that were successful in financial markets and made a fortune on horse racing. He did not develop this unbeatable strategy by himself, he had a team of advantage gamblers who collected data, and one of his partners was Bill Benter.

Their first year was catastrophic; the gambling duo lost more than $120 000, and it was one of the reasons the duo split. After the split, both gamblers went on to make hundreds of millions in the years to follow. He is known for his tremendous wins in betting on horse races but initially reached legendary status through card counting. He retired in 1982 to focus on horse betting in Hong Kong.

At the time of his death, his estimated net worth was AU$670 million. What many do not know is he used his gambling money for the greater good by investing in mental health research. Moreover, he donated millions of dollars to the Philippines to build orphanages, hospitals and schools.

Conclusion

Alan Woods left a considerable gap in the gambling world with his passing in 2008 from appendiceal cancer. He will always be known as the mathematical genius from Australia who used his super IQ and principles of quantitive gambling to win millions on Horse Racing.