Lucky Devils

'There's simply no one better at chronicling the shady, hackable, and wildly anarchic world of gambling' Brad Stone, New York Times bestselling author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound

'The best book about gambling I've ever read' Liam Vaughan, author of Flash Crash

'A fascinating insight... Lucky Devils brilliantly reveals what it takes to challenge the seemingly impossible and come out on top' Adam Kucharski, author of The Perfect Bet

'Readers will be thrilled' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

In the late 1970s, three men declared war on the casino. They arrived in Las Vegas just as the personal computer was beginning its boom. If the power of computers could be applied to gambling, they reasoned, a player could make a mint.

There was only one problem: How do you smuggle a computer, typically, the size of a suitcase, onto a casino floor without getting noticed?

Using cutting-edge strategies and gloriously DIY tech that was decades ahead of its time, they solved this and many other problems. They became pioneers of what's known as advantage playing, applying their intellects and creativity to everything from poker and blackjack to horseracing and roulette. For more than thirty years they faced down angry pit bosses, violent Mafiosos, bankruptcies, nights in foreign jails, lawsuits, and personal betrayals. They learned that the only thing harder than reaching the pinnacle of gambling achievement was staying there.

Drawing from exclusive interviews with all three players and their associates, award-winning Bloomberg journalist Kit Chellel delivers a cinematic and often uproarious account of fortunes gained, lost, and gained again. Scrupulously reported and irresistibly told, Lucky Devils reveals how these players did more than simply amass wealth; they revolutionized the game itself.

They gave the lie to the old adage. The house doesn't always win.