A DAD struggling to make ends meet was able to earn a whooping £1.6million after
devising a legal method to 🔑 win big on roulette tables.
Gonzalo Garcia Pelayo, from
Spain, noticed that certain numbers appeared to come up more often on 🔑 the roulette
wheels and so made it his mission to find out why.
6 Gonzalo Garcia Pelayo was able to
work 🔑 out the chances of winning big of roulette wheels Credit: Getty
6 Gonzalo pictured
with his son Ivan who helped his 🔑 dad collect data and play in casinos around the world
Credit: ULY MARTIN
Dubbed the King of the roulette wheel, now 🔑 75, he set about watching
and recording as many spins as possible at his local casino, the Casino Gran Madrid,
🔑 over several months.
Determined to beat the game he realised that each roulette table
had slight imperfections, and no matter how 🔑 small it threw up certain numbers that
could be predicted by the player.
He used his computer to complete an in-depth 🔑 analysis
of the results which lead to the high roller creaming over £1.6million from casinos
around the world.
The dad-of-five also 🔑 got his kids, Ivan and Vanessa, to help carry
out his master plan and sent them to other casinos to 🔑 record data on the roulette
wheels.
But when the venues noticed the family raking in the cash, they grew suspicious
and 🔑 even took Gonzalo to court.
But in another stroke of luck, the courts ruled that
his method of predicting results was 🔑 completely legal and that he was using the data to
make an educated guess.
In an interview, Gonzalo said: "I like 🔑 tricking casinos because
they are like the enemy.
"...Myself and casinos are enemies- it’s not like we are
friends when we 🔑 finish. When we finish we are still enemies.
"They are very pretentious
and ignorant."
He added: "I estimate that as a normal 🔑 player I win once every three
days.
"If this player is a bit lucky, he could win two or three times 🔑 which would put
him on top.
“What happens is that after, there will be another one who will have bad
luck 🔑 and not win once every three days, win once every five days- which already is a
huge advantage for the 🔑 casino.
"But if it’s a local small casino, it is possible for
the casino to lose that month."
When asked how he 🔑 managed to work out the magical
formula, he said: "Basically it was about analysing the limits of luck.
"I think this
🔑 was the fundamental idea, not only for the casino but for all my life- that luck has
its limits.
"And I 🔑 think this was a complete revelation- good and bad.
"It’s very
important- I know it’s a bit philosophical but everything has 🔑 its limitations and so
does luck.
"A very quick example: Toss a coin 100 times, heads or tails. It makes sense
🔑 to get about 50-50.
"Then luck affects the result and in cases we might get 52-48 or
55-45."
"It is practically impossible 🔑 to get more than what you want- let’s assume you
want heads 65 time."
"There’s a limit of luck- but it’s 🔑 also impossible to get less
than what you want."
FAMILY BUSINESS
Born in Madrid in 1947, Gonzalo's military father
died when he 🔑 was just five and the family moved to Seville.
It was here that he first
showed an interest in music and 🔑 began working in a nightclub and at a radio station.
He
went on to study music and film and rubbed shoulders 🔑 with the stars but was still
struggling to earn enough cash to raise his family.
After visiting his local casino he
🔑 noticed that some winning numbers came up more often than others - he set about finding
out why.
He noticed slight 🔑 differences in the pocket sizes, and the wheel’s gears, and
spotted unlevel floors which could all affect the spin.
He studied 🔑 the Casino Gran
Madrid’s roulette tables for months, noting down each and every win - but not placing
any wagers.
After 🔑 recording 30,000 results, it revealed that some numbers could come up
as often as every 28 throws.
He then put all 🔑 of his collected data into his computer
for analysis meaning he could predict the outcome of every roulette he played.
The
🔑 gambling fanatic realised that the system didn’t mean the player would win every time
but gave them a 6 percent 🔑 advantage and meant they could beat the house over a long
run.
To cover his losses, he initially had to bankroll 🔑 the scheme by selling the rights
to one of his documentaries - but when the money started rolling in he 🔑 no longer needed
to.
Gonzalo was determined to try his method elsewhere and recruited his eldest son,
Ivan, and eldest daughter, 🔑 Vanessa, to collect results from other casinos across
Madrid.
In 1991, the trio began playing, and less than a year later 🔑 they won
£620,000.
Eventually, the team scooped £1.6million in winnings from Las Vegas,
Australia, Denmark, Holland and Austria when they were 🔑 banned from Spain and forced to
play abroad.
They would disguise their accents to try and blend into the tourists but
🔑 staff began to notice their suspicious behaviour.
6 The incredible story was made into
a film after the family won over 🔑 £1.6million with the legal scheme
6 In the 2012 film
based on the family's story, they infiltrate casinos to watch as 🔑 many roulette spins as
possible
In 2004, after being taken to court by the Casino de Madrid a judge ruled that
🔑 the family were not cheaters and had used fair methods to guess the outcome of the
spins.
After a ten-year court 🔑 battle, Gonzalo cleared his name and was able to enter
Madrid casinos once more.
But despite the ruling, he refused to 🔑 go back and instead
would sue the venue for £800,000 in lost earnings.
After several years he won and the
gambling 🔑 operator was forced to pay up for the ‘emotional distress’ caused.
During his
years in exile from the Spanish casinos, he 🔑 wrote a book in 2003, The Fabulous Story of
Pelayos, about his family’s legal method to win big.
In fact, the 🔑 family's story was
even made into a film in 2012, ‘Winning Streak’ starring actors Daniel Bruhl and Lluis
Homar.
Now at 🔑 the age of 75, he focuses on making movies and has produced 17 films as
well as producing music.
But says 🔑 he now prefers a flutter on the horses in the UK and
is currently working on a system that would 🔑 allow him to lose just one race a year.
He
told Vice: “I like it and it amuses me. When I 🔑 don’t have much to do, I spend a lot of
my time with it.
“...I have just finished a year of 🔑 horse racing with the current
system, and now I am closing the exercise.
“There have been 11,500 races, we have won 🔑 9
months and lost 3 and the goal is to only lose one.”
Last week, the Sun reported on a
£260,000 🔑 bet that is being branded the biggest scandal in poker history.
Newcomer
player Robbi Jade Lew, 35, beat regular Garrett Adelstein 🔑 in a game by going all in on
a bad hand in a Los Angeles casino.
Her move left viewers stunned 🔑 as Garrett accused
her of using a vibrator to cheat.
The casino has launched an investigation into the
claims and Lew 🔑 gave Garrett back £120,000 following the accusations.
6 The Casino de
Madrid is where the king of the roulette wheel first 🔑 came up with the idea of
predicting results Credit: Alamy
