Billy Walters story in Wall St. Journal

[zengrifter]

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
After Big Wins in Las Vegas,
An Investor's Luck Turns
Authorities Eye Deal With Billy Walters
And a City Golf Course

By JENNIFER S. FORSYTH
April 23, 2007; Page A1

LAS VEGAS -- In this city known for gambling, high-stakes business deals and outsized real-estate transactions, Billy T. Walters has played a lucky hand.

As one of the top sports bettors in town, he has become a millionaire many times over, routinely placing six-figure wagers on football and basketball games. Along the way, Mr. Walters, who hobnobs with city officials and is a fixture on the local charity circuit, has beaten federal and state criminal charges related to various gambling and money-laundering allegations.

Using proceeds from his gaming wins, he has snapped up golf courses and other valuable property. But now, Mr. Walters's winning streak faces a threat, thanks to the fallout from a deal brokered in late 2005. That's when the Las Vegas City Council agreed to eliminate a deed restriction on one of his golf courses, paving the way for the land to be used for single-family homes. The land's value, as a result, skyrocketed by as much as $28 million.

Mr. Walters purchased the land from the city in 1999 at a deeply discounted price on the condition that it would forever remain a golf course. The City Council's reversal was one of at least six controversial decisions by government officials related to Mr. Walters's land holdings -- all of them favorable to him.

"It's another deal with Billy Walters where he gets all the upside and the taxpayer ends up getting all the downside," said Lisa Mayo-DeRiso, a Las Vegas activist who is part of an ad hoc group that has opposed some of Mr. Walters's land deals with the city and county.

...more - http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117728780045278505-lMyQjAxMDE3NzI3NTIyODU3Wj.html

 

[zengrifter]

Billy Walters and the Story of the Computer Group

By Ian Thomsen

The Arrests

He was in the bed sleeping when the two men walked into his bedroom. Billy Walters sleeps in a big clean bed in Las Vegas, in a small but elaborate home renovated to his liking, with palm trees and white flowerpots and two satellite dishes in the yard, and four large televisions in the den, and a security guard who sits just out of sight behind the shrubs across the street. This environment was disrupted early last Jan. 5, when the two strangers introduced themselves to Billy Walters with all the subtlety of an alarm clock. He greeted them by sitting up in the bed, blinking. His wife wasn't in the bed with him. They already had her, probably.

"You're going to have to get dressed," one man said. Billy Walters reached down for the pile of wrinkled clothes he had worn the night before. The room was quiet. The men watched him dress.

"We don't like to have to do this to you," the other man said.

His wife Susan was downstairs with a third man in the kitchen. There was not a lot of chit-chat. Susan and Billy Walters were led across their fine, trimmed yard in handcuffs. The path to law and order wended past a copy of the daily newspaper, which lay on their driveway like an upturned headstone. As Billy Walters glanced down at the headline, he realized that he was the front-page news:

INDICTMENTS TARGET BETTING GROUP IN LAS VEGAS

As he tells it, what steams Billy Walters most of all was the sight later that day of his pretty wife in leg irons, chains scraping the floor as she staggered toward him. Afterward, when they had been released without bail, she revealed how the manacles had eaten through her stockings.

MORE- http://pregame.com/forums/blogs/johnny-detroit/archive/2008/02/22/billy-walters-and-the-story-of-the-computer-group.aspx

 

[zengrifter]

Billy Walters will be featured on 60 Minutes this Sunday (1/16/11).
Here's a video preview >>

Las Vegas Professional Gambler Tells "60 Minutes"
He's Never Had a Losing Year

(CBS) Pro gambler Bill Walters bets tens of millions of dollars on sports each year, calling his losses "feathers" and his wins "chicken." So far, there's been chicken at the end of every year he has made a living on gambling in Las Vegas, a winning streak that's made odds makers call him the "most dangerous sports bettor."

MORE- http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/preview-billy-walters-big-bets/

 

[creeping panther]

Z-Man

Thank you so much for this great article:grin:

You are so very essential to this site, that I believe everyone owes you a debt of gratitude.:1st::toast:

CP

 

[zengrifter]

Be there or be square !!

Billy Walters will be featured on 60 Minutes this Sunday (1/16/11).
Here's a video preview >>

Las Vegas Professional Gambler Tells "60 Minutes"
He's Never Had a Losing Year

(CBS) Pro gambler Bill Walters bets tens of millions of dollars on sports each year, calling his losses "feathers" and his wins "chicken." So far, there's been chicken at the end of every year he has made a living on gambling in Las Vegas, a winning streak that's made odds makers call him the "most dangerous sports bettor."

MORE- http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/preview-billy-walters-big-bets/

 

[zengrifter]

Thank you so much for this great article:grin:

You are so very essential to this site, that I believe everyone owes you a debt of gratitude.:1st::toast:

Great, I got plenty more for... ANYTHING forum! zg

 

[mathman]

Agreed

Thank you so much for this great article:grin:

You are so very essential to this site, that I believe everyone owes you a debt of gratitude.:1st::toast:

CP

Thanks for both of you CP:cat: and ZG:joker: I have the pleasure of calling both of you friends and this site would not be even close to what it is without you two. Everything in life is about balance and your views help to keep things balanced around here and keep the boredom in check. You guys bring some "cool" to what otherwise can be a droll, geeky world sometimes...JtMM

 

[creeping panther]

Mm

Thanks for both of you CP:cat: and ZG:joker: I have the pleasure of calling both of you friends and this site would not be even close to what it is without you two. Everything in life is about balance and your views help to keep things balanced around here and keep the boredom in check. You guys bring some "cool" to what otherwise can be a droll, geeky world sometimes...JtMM

Nice thoughts, thank you

We are also happy to have you back and hope it is a long stay.

CP

 

[HockeXpert]

ZG:

You have impeccable timing! You must have known that Billy Walters was going to be on 60 minutes last night when you resurrected this thread. Before you posted this here, I had never even heard of the man. Well, I sure know who he is now!

Thanks for the heads up and the info.

 

[Sonny]

There's also a great interview with him in Gambling Wizards.

-Sonny-

 

[zengrifter]

Here is the full Billy Walters 60 Minutes segment >>
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sports-betting-billy-walters/