Roulette, derived from the French word for “little wheel,” is a simple and thrilling casino game. While many play casually, hoping for luck, some have won significant amounts with strategic approaches. Here are some of the biggest roulette winners of all time:
1. Gonzalo García-Pelayo – €5,000,000
Gonzalo García-Pelayo, a music director from Madrid, noticed a bias in roulette wheels. With his son Ivan, he recorded spins and used a computer program to simulate the bias. They won €1.5 million at Casino Gran Madrid and around €5,000,000 overall. Their success was featured in the History Channel’s “Breaking Vegas: The Roulette Assault.”
2. Billy Walters – $3,800,000
Billy Walters, a renowned gambler, identified a wheel bias at the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Betting on specific slots, he and his partners won $3,800,000 over 38 hours. Walters has a net worth of over $100 million, with notable wins in sports betting as well.
3. Pedro Grendene Bartelle – $3,500,000
Pedro Grendene Bartelle, Vice President of Grendene SA, won $3.5 million at the Hotel Conrad in Uruguay by betting $35,000 on his lucky number 32. He also won $1.2 million at the same hotel on another occasion.
4. Paul Newey – £3,000,000
In 2005, English businessman Paul Newey won £3 million at the Star City Casino in Birmingham, England. The win caused the casino to issue a profit warning. Newey later lost the money back to the casino but has also had success in poker, including the World Series of Poker.
5. Charles Wells – 2,000,000 Francs
Charles Wells, a small-time crook, won 23 out of 30 spins at the Monte Carlo Casino Resort in 1891, earning close to 1 million Francs. He returned and won another 1 million Francs. Despite his success, Wells eventually ended up in jail and died penniless in 1922.
These gamblers used a mix of strategy, observation, and luck to achieve remarkable wins in roulette, leaving a lasting impact on the game’s history.
