Bill Benter

Bill Benter
Born William Benter
1957 (age 60–61)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Residence Hong Kong
Alma mater Case Western University
University of Bristol
Occupation Professor
Businessman
Gambler
Years active 1984 –present
Spouse(s)
Vivian Fung (m. 2012)
Children 1

William "Bill" Benter (born 1957) is an American professional gambler and philanthropist who focuses on horse betting. Benter earned nearly $1 billion through the development of one of the most successful analysis computer software programs in the horse racing market.[1]

Benter has served as president of Hong Kong Rotary Club,[2] founded the Benter Foundation, is Chairman and International CEO of Acusis LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and occasionally lectures university students on subjects like statistics and mathematical probability.[3]

Benter is a philanthropist donating to charitable causes both in Hong Kong and the United States.

Early life and career

William Benter was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2] As he grew up, he wanted to use his mathematical talents to make a profit so immediately after finishing a university physics degree in 1977,[3] he went to the blackjack tables in Las Vegas and used his skills to count cards. He came across the book, Beat the Dealer, by Edward O. Thorp, which helped him improve his methods.[4] Seven years later, he was banned from most of Vegas’ strip’s casinos.[2]

Benter then met with Alan Woods, a like-minded gambler whose expertise in horse racing complemented his own in computers. The two became racing partners and in 1984, moved to Hong Kong.[3] Starting with a mere US$150,000 (equivalent to US$353,331 in 2017), the pair relied on their mathematical skill to create a formula for choosing race winners.[2]

Using his statistical model, Benter identified factors that could lead to successful race predictions. He found that some came out as more important than others.[5] Benter later worked with Robert Moore.

Benter is a visiting professor at the Southampton Management School[6] as part of the Centre for Risk Research and a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.[7]

In 2007, Benter founded the Benter Foundation.

Personal life

In March 2012, Benter married Hong Kong National Vivian Fung in a Tibetan Buddhist rite.[8] In 2015 they had their first child Henry.[9] Benter is currently residing in Pittsburgh.[10][11]

Philanthropy

Benter is a big contributor to charity and political groups. According to political campaign contribution records, in 2008 Benter and Acusis were listed as donors to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and the Democratic Party of Virginia. In 2010, The Advantage Trust donated to Israeli-based organization Rabbis for Human Rights.[12] The Atlantic reported in 2010 that Benter had raised and given at least US$800,000 in support to J Street.[13][14]

In 2012, Benter donated one million dollars to the University of Pittsburgh.[15] In 2013, Fox News reported that Benter donated thousands of dollars for pro-Hagel ads in Politico when he was nominated to be next Secretary of Defense by President Obama.[16]

In 2016, The Washington Post reported the Benter raised US$100,000 for A New Voice for Maryland, a pro-Joel Rubin group for Democratic nomination in Maryland's 8th Congressional District.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Colon, Nicholas G. (2016-05-17). "Inside The Blackjack Ball: An Exclusive Look At The Gathering Of The Smartest Gamblers In The World". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Delvecchio, Jerry. "William Benter (Bill Benter), the richest and most successful gambler of all time? Hong Kong Horse Racing Legend - The Worlds Greatest Gamblers". www.worlds-greatest-gamblers.com. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  3. 1 2 3 Chung, Yulanda (2000-11-03). "The Winning Edge". edition.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  4. ↑ "Bill Benter - One of the Wealthiest Gamblers in the World". www.gamblingsites.org. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  5. ↑ Kucharski, Adam (2016-02-25). "Are the Best Gamblers Skilled, or Just Lucky? From poker to horse racing, the statistics involved in coming out on top". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  6. ↑ "Professor Bill Benter, University of Southampton". www.southampton.ac.uk. Southampton Business School. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  7. ↑ "Who is Bill Benter?". www.benterfoundation.org. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  8. ↑ "Bill Benter - Pittsburghs Beautiful People". www.pittsburgh-legends.com. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  9. ↑ Bencivenga, Natalie; Bauknecht, Sara (2016-05-06). "Motherly wisdom from some new, and not so new, Pittsburgh moms". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  10. ↑ "William Benter, an American expert horse racing gambler who found success using racing form analysis". thegreattipoff.com. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  11. ↑ "The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code". Bloomberg.com. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  12. ↑ Steger, Isabella (30 September 2010). "Jewish Advocacy Group Donor Linked to Hong Kong". WSJ. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  13. ↑ Good, Chris. "J Street's Half-Truths and Non-Truths About Its Funding". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  14. ↑ "Soros revealed as funder of liberal Jewish-American lobby". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  15. ↑ "Bill Benter, the richest of them all, but who is he? - Gambler Profiles". www.gambler-profiles.com. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  16. ↑ "Media Matters funder bankrolls pro-Hagel campaign". Fox News. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  17. ↑ Turque, Bill (2016-04-04). "Middle East peace activist wants to take fight to Republicans in Congress". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-04-21.

Bibliography

  • Hausch, Donald B.; Lo, Victor S. Y.; Ziemba, W. T. Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets. World Scientific. pp. 183–198. ISBN 9789812819192. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  • "An Interview with Bill Benter". macau.rotary3450.org. Rotary Club of Macau. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
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