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View Full Version : Bigger than Benter was???


arkansasman
10-09-2006, 07:02 PM
This may be the biggest horse player in the world

http://www.propun.com.au/racing_forums/showthread.php?t=13410&page=2

highnote
10-12-2006, 02:04 AM
I heard about Jelko a few years ago. Never could find much about him on the net. Maybe he is getting ready to retire or change careers. There must be a limit on how much you can bet in racing. The pools aren't very big. I would think someone like him would eventually do like Ed Thorp or other hedge fund operators and gravitate to the stock market. Globally, you can probably bet trillions rather than billions.

robert99
10-12-2006, 05:40 PM
I heard from someone who used to work analysing race videos for him that he bets a lot on sports. Who he actually bets with is a mystery. Betting the PMU at those stakes is winning back a lot of your own money. The $B annual turnover newspaper claim is difficult to believe. You can probably place $3M dollars, worldwide, in a day, but not day after day. There is a strictly limited number of value bets in any case and it is more difficult to place substantial bets that are above the true odds without them being cut. Losing bets just to maintain turnover and a high proportion of bets under the odds eventually leads to the poor house.

highnote
10-12-2006, 05:43 PM
A billion ain't what it used to be. I think it might be possible to turn over a billion a year.

robert99
10-13-2006, 06:02 AM
A billion ain't what it used to be. I think it might be possible to turn over a billion a year.

So how might that work, swetyejohn?

highnote
10-13-2006, 06:26 AM
There are a lot more places to bet today than there were 20 years ago. I think I read or heard that Benter bet $100,000 to win per race in Hong Kong. Let's say he did that 500 times per year. That's 50 million right there. Then if you throw in exotic wagers. That would get you say another 200 million per year. Then there are betting exchanges. And Australian races. And European races and US races. Not to mention bets on sports.

I think a billion sounds doable. It must be a lot of work though. He must have very good organizational skills and pay his employees well.

I wonder if he's hiring?

robert99
10-13-2006, 05:42 PM
There are a lot more places to bet today than there were 20 years ago. I think I read or heard that Benter bet $100,000 to win per race in Hong Kong. Let's say he did that 500 times per year. That's 50 million right there. Then if you throw in exotic wagers. That would get you say another 200 million per year. Then there are betting exchanges. And Australian races. And European races and US races. Not to mention bets on sports.

I think a billion sounds doable. It must be a lot of work though. He must have very good organizational skills and pay his employees well.

I wonder if he's hiring?

In Honk Kong that might account for HK$250M if he bet in every race. These are only Hong Kong dollars which are about 8 to the $US. So about US$970M still to be bet elsewhere. I don't think that Benter or anyone else finds an edge in every race and he may pass several. There are now many copycat outfits in HK all doing the same Benter thing.

There are betting exchanges but you have to find people to take your bets and even on Betfair liquidity is nowhere these levels for every day racing and sports in however many countries you bet in. Rival exchanges are far worse. Even to get relatively small bets on would take a huge payroll with staff working 24/7. Value bets would be minimal if volume was the aim. - so profits minimal. If his operation was trading on the exchanges then profits per turnover would be smaller again. You cannot bet large sums with bookmakers if you are known to have the slightest chance of winning long term. (In UK, even a £50 bet gets referred to HQ). He was hiring about 2 years ago but it was just to do all the backroom boring bits.

highnote
10-13-2006, 06:00 PM
Maybe the billion dollar claim is an exaggeration?