6. William Nelson Darnborough
William Darnborough came shortly after Joseph Jagger but he too amassed great wealth by playing roulette. Darnborough was an American from Illinois who travelled to Europe in the early years of the 1900′s and ended up playing roulette in Monte Carlo.
While it is possible that Darnborough went to Europe for other reasons besides roulette, the amount that he amassed was certainly no fluke. The figure reported was somewhere between $400,000 and $450,000 depending on the sources but whatever the figure, it was absolutely astronomical for the time.
In one incident, Darnborough was reported to have bet on number five and that number came in on five successive spins. Such a feat is indeed very rare and the fact that Darnborough was also reported to have waited until the dealer had spun the ball indicated that he possibly was either wheel watching or exploiting what is known as a biased wheel.
Like Jagger, Darnborough left with his wealth and married a noble girl and lived in England. He had already made considerable money in the shady backsteet casinos in America and it was known even then that the method that he used was “wheel watching”.
This is a process where the player attempts to anticipate the final destination of the ball. This is achieved by mentally logging the speed of the wheel in one direction and the speed of the ball going in the other direction and then taking note of the departure point of the ball. This may sound very complex but with practice and a properly detailed explanation then it is more than possible. However the new roulette wheels make this process far more difficult in which to get meaningful results.
