Zeljko Ranogajec Profile Summary
| Name | Zeljko Ranogajec |
|---|---|
| Birth Name | Zeljko Ranogajec |
| Height | 1.80 m |
| Hair Colour | Light Brown |
| Eye Colour | Brown |
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Place of Birth | Hobart |
| Religion | Unknown |
| Ethnicity | Slavic |
| Profession | Businessman, Gambler |
| Source of wealth | Advantage-playing blackjack |
| Net Worth | $410 Million |
Zeljko Ranogajec - Net Worth $410 Million
Born in Australia to a family of Croatian immigrants, Zeljko Ranogajec is regarded as one of the most successful advantage gamblers of all time. Otherwise known as “The Joker”, he is mostly known for his success playing blackjack, but he runs a massive horse race betting operation that allegedly provides employment for over 300 Australians. As of the time of writing this bio, his latest net worth estimation was calculated to be close to A$610 million, around $410 million.
If you fix something at $8, you get six, but if you get a rebate it puts you into the positive
What Does Zeljko Ranogajec Do?
Zeljko Ranogajec is very secretive about what he does. In fact, he very rarely gives interviews and mostly keeps to himself.
According to rumors, he runs a massive horse racing operation. His syndicate is said to place bets worth over $3 billion per year, and the amount of money that his company’s bet makes up more than 30% of the money that Betfair Australia handles every year.
Since his early days, Zeljko has been known as a man that loves advantage gambling. As such, he has reached agreements with sportsbooks to give him rebates. It is through these rebates that he has found the most success, as they help to cover for his losses.
He currently owns an apartment in the world’s most expensive complex: One Hyde Park, located in London. He is said to live there, while he rents his Australian mansion. He is also known as “John Wilson”, a name he uses for business, and owns a controlling stake in the British betting company Colossus Bets.
How Did Zeljko Ranogajec Get Rich?
Zeljko Ranogajec has always been a man of math. He started studying Commerce and Law in the University of Tasmania, where he started developing an understanding of finance and banking.
As a student, he used to frequent the Wrest Point Casino. He learned to count cards and started playing blackjack, an activity in which he was wildly successful. He eventually dropped out of the university to fully focus his life on advantage gambling.
He is said to have started playing blackjack with nothing but a few hundred dollars. With his card counting skills, he managed to turn those hundreds into thousands, and then into millions.
Zeljko Ranogajec has cemented his status as one of the richest gamblers in the world through smart investments. The foundation of his syndicate, Bankroll Punters Club, which focuses on advantage gambling through rebate-based benefits, is his primary source of income.
How Does Zeljko Ranogajec Like to Gamble?
Zeljko Ranogajec is an advantage gambler, meaning that he approaches betting in the most favorable way possible.
This led to a controversy with the betting conglomerate Tabcorp, which gave him such a good rebate that raised questions across the industry and amassed criticism from fellow punters.
It is unclear how much of a rebate he is getting from Tabcorp, but it is estimated to be around 8%. That means that the company covers 8% of all of his losses. Should he lose 2% per year, he’d still be getting a 6% profit.
When he played blackjack, he also did so in the most advantageous way possible. As a card counter, he got banned from all casinos in Australia. When he went to the US to try his luck, the same thing happened. He does not frequent casinos because of this reason - his fame across the globe makes him an unwanted customer in most land-based casinos.
How Does Zeljko Ranogajec Spend His Money?
Zeljko Ranogajec may be a gambler, but he’s just as much a businessman. His betting syndicate places bets on events of sports from all over the world.
The thing about Zeljko is that he doesn’t like to go public about his way of life, so we don’t really know how he spends his money. He does own a million-dollar Lamborgini, which he has set as the profile picture of his X and Instagram profiles. He keeps them private, and he’s followed only by a few hundred people.
The company he founded in the UK under the name “John Wilson”, Colossus Bets, is one of the biggest betting conglomerates in the county. The creation of BritBet, in which Colossus Bets is directly involved, is poised to become one of the biggest betting conglomerates in Britain, with 55 racecourses spread across the country.
Gambling Stats
- Biggest Win: His famous win of $7.5 million on keno is said to be his biggest ever prize, even if he cost him much more than that to win the actual sum.
- Biggest Loss: He wins a lot of the time, but this is mostly through the rebates and deals that he has with sportsbooks. In reality, he has lost -and frequently losses- a lot of money. He once lost $10 million in the 2005 Melbourne Cup.
The Genius that Keeps to Himself
Although very little is known about Ranogajec’s current activities due to how much he values secrecy and privacy, one thing is clear: the man born in Australia and son to Croatian immigrants is one of the richest gamblers in the world - and just like most successful gamblers, he’s found a way to overcome the odds that are always stacked against players.
Zeljko Ranogajec is the living proof of the effectiveness of how rebates offered by sportsbooks can widely benefit gamblers. These rebates are only given to the biggest of high rollers, of course, so the next best thing you could aim for would be to bet in sports with the best possible odds.
If you’d like to do just that, we recommend you pay a visit to Wild.io, a crypto casino and sportsbook with some of the most favorable odds out there.
