10. Thirteen Against the Bank

Author……………………………….Norman Leigh

Published…………………………..1976

Publishing Company………..Oldcastle Books

This book is now over thirty years old and is probably considered a classic amongst roulette and gambling books. The book has also been slated as being fiction and not being true. I cannot really comment on that but it is the “story” of one mans attempt to hit the Casino Municipal in Nice and the team that he put together to do that.

The story is based in 1966 and revolves around a reverse roulette betting system that when it hits progressions can make substantial amounts of money for the player. It differs widely from the Martingale in that it is not a doubling system so the chances of hitting the table maximums with huge risky bets consisting of your own money are rare.

It is hard to fathom whether Leigh was naive as to the power of his own system, this is a possibility purely because it was based in 1966. Another answer could be that he was a con man and basically tricked twelve naive individuals into putting up a bankroll, this accusation has been thrown at Leigh many times from numerous different sources.

Another answer is that the book is fabricated or the truth expanded for dramatic effect. I cannot possibly comment on that but what I do know after reading this book is that not only is this a very entertaining book, but the effects of the betting system that Leigh used are now well documented and I have seen this system succeed in real life.

Leigh and his team ended up making a considerable amount of money which was £58,000. The US Dollar rate at the time made this $163,000 and so in 1966 this would have been an incredible amount of money. I cannot say what the figure would have been in today’s terms but we must be looking at ten times the amount.

In fact whilst I have been typing this blog entry I have just been on to a conversion website that calculated that the $163,000 in 1966 would now be worth around $1.2 million. Little wonder then that the casinos barred the team. Whether you believe the story or not, it is still a great read.

RATING………………..9/10

See you soon

Carl “The Dean” Sampson
Play Roulette online at bwin, one of the best sites on the Internet