The Most Famous Gamblers in UK History– Legends of the Casino World!

The UK might not be the biggest or most glamorous gambling venue in the world. Places like Las Vegas and Monte Carlo are the ones that first spring to most people’s minds. But when it comes to the successful, professional gambler stakes, we have plenty of high-profile punters who rate equally well alongside some of the world’s greats.

Here in the UK, we have a long-established history of gambling. It goes back to the 18th century and the Earl of Sandwich. As a member of the British aristocracy in the 1700s, he was well known for his love of gambling. Indeed, he loved it so much that he didn’t even want to waste time leaving the card table to eat, so he inadvertently invented a famous portable snack, which allowed him to continue his gambling uninterrupted. It makes him one of the most famous gamblers of all time. Not many gamblers can match that in the celebrity stakes.

He scooped a £13.2 million jackpot with a £0.25 on Microgaming’s Mega Moolah progressive slot.

Slots with different themes

As you’ll see when you read on, many famous UK bettors enjoy a wide variety of games, but did you know you do professional gambling via slots based on a wide variety of themes? Slots you can play today include:

• Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven from software provider Playtech
• Sweet Bonanza by Pragmatic play
• Champion of the Track from NetEnt
• Escape the Pyramid – Fire & Ice by Pragmatic play

You can land thousands of pounds in prize money from slots like these. And if you take note of the slot rating at slotsjudge.com feature, where they award the games a score out of 10, you can see straight ways which casino games have the best scores.

The Best Professional UK Gamblers

We don’t have to root back to the Earl of Sandwich to find famous gamblers here in the UK. There are several highly successful UK maestro bettors in more modern times – players like Tony Bloom.

Tony Bloom – Professional Punter and Poker Player

Tony ‘The Lizard’ Bloom would be many people’s choice of best UK gambler. He’s very secretive, so the exact extent of his fortune is unknown. However, it is known that he has pocketed millions in prize money from his exploits in the World Poker Series and other big tournaments.

But he is also a wise businessman. He also used his winnings to invest in startups, including online gambling sites, and he purchased a stake in Brighton and Bove Albion Football Club. It is thought his overall worth runs into the billions.

Alex Bird – Horseracing Specialist – 500 Photo Finish Winners in a Row

Alex Bird was born in England in 1927. His pride of place as one of the UK’s most successful gamblers come mostly from a form of gambling he created, betting on horse race photo finishes. Before the use of today’s modern technology, photo finishes used real chemical-developed photographs.

The process took much longer than it does now, and he used that time to his advantage. He understood that the photographs typically give the illusion that the horse furthest from the camera appeared to be the winner, but by strategically positioning himself close to the finish line, he could get a different and more accurate perspective. It is reported that he used his ‘system’ to claim 500 wins on the trot (Sorry about the pun).

Joseph Jagger – One of the Most Successful Gamblers at the Roulette Table

Joseph Jagger was born in 1830 in Yorkshire, where he later became a textile worker. While working, he noticed that the spinning wheels in his factory were always imbalanced, and he figured out how to fix them. In 1880, with his insider knowledge, he went to the Monte Carlo casino scene and used that knowledge while observing the roulette tables to come up with the system that helped him to predict where the little ball would come to rest.

Putting his system to the test over a period of a few days, he won over £80k at the roulette wheel. At today’s prices, that £80k would equate to around £7.5 million. He really was “the man who broke the bank in Monte Carlo.“

Patrick Veitch – The UK’s Most Feared Professional Punter

Patrick Veitch began his gambling career while still a student at Cambridge University when he set up a tipster hotline that earned him in excess of £10,000 a month before graduating. Later, between 1999 and 2007, he amassed winnings of over £10 million from bookmakers, christening himself the U.K.’s most feared professional punter.

Harry Findlay – The Punter Who Won Millions and Spent the Lot

A compulsive gambler, Harry ‘The Dog’ Findlay loved sports betting – horses, greyhounds, football, rugby – you name it, and he was willing to bet on it. He took the ‘win some, lose some’ philosophy to heart, as his autobiography, ‘Gambling For Life: The Man Who Won Millions And Spent Every Penny’ aptly illustrates.

The failed £2.5 million wager he made on New Zealand to win the Rugby World Cup in 2007 must surely make him one of the biggest high rollers in UK history, but not the biggest in the world. That award goes to the American Jim ‘Mattress Mac’ McInvale, who placed a $5 million wager on the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Los Angeles Rams. He lost, with the Rams winning 23 to 20.

Findlay wasn’t the only professional punter to come-a-cropper. Terry Ramsden is another example of a rags-to-riches merchant who ended up back in rags again. With a net worth of £150 million at one stage, Ramsden later went bankrupt and was imprisoned with debts of over £100 million.

But it’s not always bad news with big bets. Rapper Drake scooped a $1.8 million prize from a Super Bowl bet and generously announced, “If I win, somebody’s getting super blessed at the show tomorrow,” Lucky someone!

Concluding Thoughts

Some might say that gambling is a mug’s game, while others will appreciate the late, great W C Fields’ sentiments when he said, “I spent half my money on gambling, alcohol, and wild women, (or men – not be sexist), The outer half I wasted!“