It Happened in Vegas: How Billy Walters Saw a Hot Hand Go Cold

Southeast of the Las Vegas Strip, on the deserted fairways of Stallion Mountain Golf Club, the signs were everywhere: Billy Walters was running out of luck.

For three decades Walters, often considered the most successful sports gambler in the country, had fed on the heady exuberance of Sin City. Nowhere else was the boom wilder, the consumption more conspicuous. By the early 2000s, he’d built a business empire with interests ranging from gambling to real estate, from golf courses to car dealerships.