Gambling rarely makes anyone rich — the house edge sees to that. But a tiny handful of people have built enormous fortunes around the casino, and they fall into two very different camps: the professional gamblers who beat the house through skill and maths, and the gambling moguls who got rich building the house itself. The richest individual players are pros like Tony Bloom and Bill Benter, worth around a billion dollars each, while the richest figures in gambling overall are industry founders like Bet365’s Denise Coates, worth well over $10 billion. Here’s who they are — with the caveat that every net-worth figure below is an estimate that shifts with markets and sources.
The richest professional gamblers
These are the rare players who turned betting into a genuine fortune — almost always through mathematics, discipline and decades of work, not luck.
Tony Bloom — around $1.7 billion
Nicknamed “The Lizard” for his ice-cold composure, Bloom built his fortune through a professional sports-betting syndicate and sports analytics, and owns Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. He sits at the very top of the pro-gambler list.
Bill Benter — over $1 billion
Benter is the mathematician who cracked horse racing. Working from Hong Kong — for a time alongside fellow pro Alan Woods — he built a computer model that turned race betting into one of the most profitable gambling operations in history.
Edward Thorp — around $800 million
The father of card counting, Thorp proved blackjack could be beaten in his book Beat the Dealer, then took the same mathematical edge to Wall Street and made his real fortune running a hedge fund. He features in our look at the best blackjack players of all time.
Billy Walters — around $200 million
One of the most successful sports bettors ever, Walters reportedly ran a winning streak across more than thirty years — the kind of longevity that defines the pros profiled in our guide to the most famous professional sports gamblers.
Phil Ivey — around $100 million
Often called the greatest poker player of his generation and the “Tiger Woods of poker,” Ivey has won eleven WSOP bracelets. You can read his full story in our Phil Ivey net worth profile.
Daniel Negreanu — around $50 million
The Canadian “Kid Poker” holds six WSOP bracelets and tens of millions in tournament winnings, and has built a second income as a brand ambassador and streamer. He remains one of the most recognisable faces in the game.
It would be wrong to leave out the late Doyle Brunson, the “Godfather of Poker,” who played professionally for over 60 years and won 10 WSOP titles before his death in 2023 (Wikipedia) — the player who arguably built the modern game.
The richest gambling moguls
Bet against the house and you might make millions. Own the house and you can make billions — these founders and heirs dwarf even the best players.
Denise Coates — around $12 billion
The most remarkable story in gambling wealth. Coates founded Bet365 from a Stoke-on-Trent portacabin, betting the family business on the idea that gambling would move online. She was right, and now ranks among the wealthiest self-made women in the world — the empire is detailed in our Bet365 mobile guide (Wikipedia).
Johann Graf — around $11 billion
A former butcher, Graf founded Austria’s Novomatic in 1980 and grew it into one of the world’s largest gaming-technology and slot-machine companies, operating across dozens of countries.
The late Lui Che Woo — around $12 billion
The founder and chairman of Macau casino giant Galaxy Entertainment, Lui built one of the most valuable gambling empires on earth before his death in 2024 at the age of 95. His fortune helped cement Macau’s status as the world’s gambling capital — the subject of our explainer on why Macau is the casino capital of the world.
Pansy Ho — around $3.5 billion
Daughter of the late Macau legend Stanley Ho, Pansy Ho is a major shareholder in MGM China and SJM Holdings and one of Asia’s richest businesswomen — proof that gambling dynasties, not just individuals, define the industry’s wealth.
A note on the numbers
Treat every figure here as an informed estimate rather than a precise total. Net worths swing with stock prices, casino revenues, private holdings and the source doing the counting, and players’ fortunes in particular are notoriously hard to pin down. The rankings move; the lesson behind them doesn’t.
Conclusion
The richest gamblers in the world prove a simple split: a few brilliant players genuinely beat the house through maths and nerve, but the truly vast fortunes belong to the people who built the casinos and bookmakers. For everyone else, the house edge remains exactly what it is — which is why these names are remarkable exceptions, not a template.
