Legendary Gambler Billy Walters Focusing on Auto Sales

Two months ago, legendary gambler Billy Walters was indicted along with Dean Foods chairman Thomas Davis for insider trading. Still awaiting the results of his case, Walters has quit gambling and is solely focused on his auto dealership.

Some gamblers may know Walters for his incredible betting feats, such as the time he won $3.5 million on Super Bowl XLIV, or when he and a team of players won $3.8 million in roulette.

But Walters is also a major car dealer, owning 18 dealerships along with his partners.

“Whatever success I’ve had in life I owe to the automobile business,” said Walters. “It was my MBA. It was my college.”

The 69-year-old’s dealerships sell almost 29,000 new and used cars every year. And Automotive News reports that he wants to boost this number by purchasing more dealerships across the U.S., especially in the southeast.

Automotive News did an in-depth feature on Walters that covers everything from his auto business to his insane work ethic.

Walters learned this work ethic from his grandmother while growing up in the tiny town of Munfordville, Kentucky. After his father died when he was 1, and his mother left, his grandmother worked two jobs to raise seven kids.

“My grandmother was my entire life,” said Walters. “She not only gave me the confidence to be a businessman, she was my role model.”

Earning money through everything from a paper route to mowing lawns, Walters collected a lot of money before he was even 10. He also learned how to bet from his uncle, who owned a pool hall.

He’d already learned how to be a good pool player by the time he was 5, and was winning bets by age 6.

Walters would eventually make good money as a car salesman too, netting $56,000 (approx. $400,000 today) in his first year out of high school. He continued working as a car salesman/manager for a decade and a half.

By 1982, he decided to quit the car sales business and head for Las Vegas.

“The whole time I was in the automobile business, I had been working on a program to handicap sports,” he explained. “I wanted to gamble where it was legal and lawful and you could be a respected member of the community.”

The rest is history since Walters has used a combination of sports betting and advantage play to net tens of millions of dollars in profits. But after 3+ decades of doing so, he’s burnt out.

“That ion I had with gambling has faded,” he said. “I got burned out on it.”

Times are looking darker for Walters now since he’s facing charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for giving insider trading tips to Phil Mickelson.

But, as his life story shows, Walters is a fighter and will no doubt battle these charges to keep himself out of prison.