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Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong. 

Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong. 

Photographer: Xyza Bacani for Bloomberg Businessweek

Businessweek
Feature

The Gambler Who Cracked the Horse-Racing Code

Bill Benter did the impossible: He wrote an algorithm that couldn't
lose at the track. Close to a billion dollars later, he tells his
story for the first time.
By Kit Chellel
May 3, 2018 at 5:00 AM EDT
Save
 
[-1x-1]
This article is part of the May 14, 2018 issue of businessweek.

Horse racing is something like a religion in Hong Kong, whose
citizens bet more than anyone else on Earth. Their cathedral is Happy
Valley Racecourse, whose grassy oval track and floodlit stands are
ringed at night by one of the sport's grandest views: neon
skyscrapers and neat stacks of high-rises, a constellation of
illuminated windows, and beyond them, lush hills silhouetted in
darkness.

On the evening of Nov. 6, 2001, all of Hong Kong was talking about
the biggest jackpot the city had ever seen: at least HK$100 million
(then about $13 million) for the winner of a single bet called the
Triple Trio. The wager is a little like a trifecta of trifectas; it
requires players to predict the top three horses, in any order, in
three different heats. More than 10 million combinations are
possible. When no one picks correctly, the prize money rolls over to
the next set of races. That balmy November night, the pot had gone
unclaimed six times over. About a million people placed a
bet--equivalent to 1 in 7 city residents.

 
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