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 BetIn 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.

Kit Chellel is an investigative reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and co-author of Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy alongside Matthew Campbell, published in the UK by Atlantic in 2022. The book was the winner of the True Crime Awards Book of the Year 2023 and shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year Award. It was also a Waterstones Best Books of 2022 pick and selected as a Book of the Year by The Financial Times, The Times and The Economist. Dead in the Water is in development as a limited series on a major streaming platform. Kit lives in West London with his three children.