The greatest golfer on the planet

Bet a billion — just like that!

Philip Mickelson is now in the center of attention on US betting social media. Most Eroupeans have never heard about him and it’s not a big surprise, Mickelson is a golfer, and not many people in Europe know the names of golfers, except maybe Tiger Woods. However in the US Mickelson is quite popular.

William T. Walters is one of the most successful sports bettors ever. In 39 years of betting, he’s only had one losing year and a 30-year winning streak, so he is truly the legendary gambler. 

Every legal and illegal bookmaker in the US has cut him off, and in 2017 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and got a $10 million fine for "insider trading" - leaking confidential information. He spent two years in federal prison in Pensacola, Florida, and another year under house arrest. He was pardoned by Donald Trump in January 2021.

Billy Walters, like Jordan Belfort, the guy Leonardo DiCaprio played in "The Wolf of Wall Street," knew how to convince people (he started out selling cars) and also had a deep understanding of sports and math. He built a huge network of insiders all over the world and in all types of sports, which allowed him to cheat bookmakers for years and make a fortune. He even won in casinos, creating new roulette strategies. In 1986, Walters spent about 36 hours at a casino in Atlantic City and walked out with $3.8 million. But that's not what's being discussed in the US! The fact that Billy Walters is awesome is unquestionable, that's nothing new. What's new is his autobiography, recently released by Simon & Schuster. The original title is "Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk." A key part of the book is a chapter about Mickelson and his betting habits.

It is well known that Mickelson is a betting addict, he’s been betting on everything for his whole life. But nobody knew the details - people just knew he bet, and sometimes lost. Now, Walters revealed everything in his book about his ex-best friend.

Here's a story about Mickelson's gambling life:

1. Total betting amount is around $1 billion.

2. Total losses - around $100 million, which is a 10% loss. Actually, it's not that bad, pretty basic. 

3. Once he wanted to bet $400,000 on the US team on the Ryder Cup, which Tiger Woods was on. Walters talked him out of it – it could've gotten Mickelson, a professional golfer, banned for life. Did he bet on golf? Of course, using drops. He probably bet on that Ryder Cup through someone – and lost. The Europeans were losing 6-10 on the last day, but made a huge comeback, winning 14.5-13.5! Golf scores can be weird.

4. In 2011 Mickelson placed 3,154 bets, an average of 9 bets per day. 

5. In 2011, he placed 43 baseball bets and lost $143,000 in just one day.

6. Mickelson bet on everything: football, basketball, tennis, hockey, baseball, horse racing, roulette, anything! He didn't care about the odds or potential winnings – he just wanted to play. He could easily bet $20,000 on an underdog with odds of 45.00 or $100,000 on something with odds of 1.04. 

7. He won $560,000 in 2000 by betting $20,000 with odds of 28.00 on the Baltimore Ravens winning the Super Bowl. And they won! It was their first Super Bowl win ever.

8. Mickelson bet at least $100,000 on single bets or parlays over 1,000 times in his life, and over 800 times with bets of $200,000 or more. 

9. Almost all bookmakers had cut Billy Walters' betting limits – he could only bet $20,000 on a NCAA match. But Mickelson had almost unlimited betting limits because of his gambling reputation. Bookmakers were happy to let him bet $400,000 or more at once. 

Mickelson is now 53 years old and he is still a professional golfer, ranked 94th in the world. He recently played in a tournament in West Virginia (not very well). 

Mickelson has commented on the book and that chapter, saying he didn't bet on the Ryder Cup and that he doesn’t have gambling addiction anymore.

Mickelson and Walters haven't spoken since 2014. When the FBI was investigating Walters’ case, they questioned Mickelson many times. But Mickelson never openly supported his friend. Walters thinks this can be a reason for his prison sentence.