Billy Walters is recognized by many as the greatest sports bettor of all time, although he has had some trouble with the law.

You don't know his story?

Come on, I'll give it to you quickly because it's still worth the detour!

Billy Walters, the story of a kid who could have gone wrong...

It is 1955 in Kentucky and Billy is 9 years old.

And yet it was at this age that our dear Walters decided to place his first bet on a game between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

And since stories always start badly, do you have any idea of ​​the result? Obviously, Billy made a mistake choosing the Yankees and lost his money that day.

But this is only the beginning...

When I said that Billy could have gone bad, it's not for nothing.

A father who died when he was still 1 year old, an alcoholic mother who abandoned him at a very young age, Billy had an extremely difficult childhood, and it was his grandmother who came to his rescue, prevent it from sinking.

Work culture as a watchword

Without drinking water or electricity at home, and with a grandmother who worked 2 different jobs to make ends meet, Billy grew up rough and above all he often found himself left to his own devices.

But Walters had his grandmother as a role model, and she always instilled in him the value of hard work.

So, when he was 7 years old, Billy decided to take out a $40 loan to buy an electric lawn mower and start his own garden mowing business.

At the age of 9, this time he borrowed $90 to start selling newspapers.

But once again, everything would have been too good... A young man who struggled and then launches business after business to be successful is almost a “classic”.

What's the worst that could have happened to Billy at that moment?

The death of his grandmother.

At 13 years old, lonely and without any family ties, our protagonist finds himself having to find his mother to go and live with her in Louisville.

He combines a job as a baker in the morning with another as a gas station employee in the evening, and rents a small room for which his mother charges him $10 per week.

The beginning of his professional career

In 1965, Billy was 19 and began working as a salesman at McMackin Auto Sales, a used car dealership in Louisville. He started by selling used cars.

But Walters has that little something extra that made him the businessman he became.

For each car sold, Walters would distribute a promotional leaflet to 10 people living on either side of his customer's home. He wasn't just selling, he was planting the seeds of his future success.

He scanned every automobile classified ad in the newspaper, looked through the telephone directory, dialed every number possible, and all of this solely in order to make contacts that would later prove to be invaluable.

His determination quickly bore fruit because in 1966, just one year after his arrival, Walters sold an average of 32 cars per month, which translated into an annual income of $56,000, a considerable sum at the time, equivalent to about $400,000 today.

Billy worked 80 hours a week and set sales records that would put most of his colleagues to shame. In 1967, he was recruited by Steven's Brothers Auto Sales, a competing dealership.

Five years and then gone, our dear Billy decided in 1972 to found his first real big company, “Taylor Boulevard Auto Sales”, specializing in the wholesale sale of cars to other dealerships in the southeast. the United States.

Sports betting, Billy Walters' first love

Seeing his income increase over the months and years, Billy devoted himself to his favorite pastime...sports betting obviously (yes, that’s why you’re there in the first place).

But the problem is that at only 22 years old, he has already accumulated $50,000 in betting losses.

After several years of success and despite prediction strategies that were shaky to say the least, he left the automobile industry in 1981 to become a full-time sports bettor.

That's when he decided to move with his wife, Susan, to Las Vegas, where sports betting was legal.

But when you are known for losing your house during a simple game of “pitching pennies”, not sure if this is the idea of ​​the century…

The beginning of an empire

And yet…

Thanks to the fortune he has accumulated through his various businesses, Billy allows himself to go crazy.

He begins by asking an Atlanta casino if he could come and play $2 million at roulette.

After 38 hours of play, a gain of $3,800,000 awaits Mr. Walters when he leaves the casino.

Stroke of luck or genius?

The Computer Group

In the early 1980s, Billy decided to join a betting consensus called “The Computer Group”, which relies on mathematical calculations carried out by computers to predict sports results.

And the least we can say is that the results were more than convincing! Over a 39-year career in betting, Walters has only had one negative year, and a consecutive streak of 30 years in the green, a statistic that would make many people dream.

During the Super Bowl in 2009, he even won $3,500,000 on a single bet on the victory of the New Orleans Saints.

In 2011, he revealed in an interview that he earns between $50 and $60 million per year from sports betting.

He was even inducted into the “Betting Hall of Fame” in Las Vegas in 2023, with the caption “Billy Walters is known for being the greatest sports bettor of all time. He commands respect from every prominent bookmaker in the world and is known for contributing as a philanthropist to many causes."

He is also the author of a best seller with his book called “Gambler: Secrets from a life at risk”.

So, what do we take away from all this?

Billy Walters' incredible story reminds us that determination, resilience and hard work can transform a person's life, even in the most difficult circumstances.

Born into precarious family circumstances and facing considerable problems from a young age, Billy was able to draw on the lesson of hard work instilled by his grandmother to build an empire from nothing.

His professional career began humbly, but his desire to succeed and his ability to seize opportunities led him to become a world-famous businessman.

Walters quickly learned the importance of making connections, which allowed him to experience financial success early on.

However, it was his passion for sports betting that made him a legend. His transition to a career as a professional bettor proved daring, but his perseverance eventually led him to join "The Computer Group" and use mathematical methods to predict sports outcomes.

A risky choice but one that paid off.

Ultimately, Billy Walters' story is a testament to the individual's ability to overcome adversity and transform his life.

His ingenuity, determination and genius made him a legend in the gaming world.

BE CAREFUL: Billy took enormous risks to build his career and fell into debt several times because of his gambling addiction.

Our duty is still to remind you that these games can lead you into financial situations that are extremely difficult to manage and that, whatever your means, you should absolutely set your own limits of play to avoid sinking.