Best Books on Gambling – Our Top Choices

The global online gambling market is projected to achieve a value of $100.90 billion by the end of 2024, with the demand for casino and sportsbook betting options growing throughout the world. Much of this is being driven by the US market, of course, where sports betting has been legal at federal level since 2018.

As more people are able and encouraged to wager their hard-earned cash, there’s also a demand to learn about specific gambling verticals and concepts such as bankroll management. Literature can be incredibly helpful here, and there are plenty of books on online gambling. These cover all sorts of related topics and wager types, but what are the most compelling books about online gambling in the current marketplace?

• Top Books Gambling Enthusiasts Love – The Rise and Fall of Daniel Tzvetkoff
• One of the Best Books About Gambling – Bringing Down the House
• Dueling with Kings – Navigating the World of Daily Fantasy Sports Betting
• The Theory Of Poker – How to Think and Play Like a Professional
• The Last Word

Top Books Gambling Enthusiasts Love – The Rise and Fall of Daniel Tzvetkoff

One of the best books about online gambling is ‘Alligator Blood: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the High-rolling Whiz-kid Who Controlled Online Poker’s Billions’. It’s frustratingly long title aside, it charts the incredible story of Daniel Tzvetkoff, who pioneered the online billing company Intabill and served the market leading poker sites as his main clients.

He became increasingly immersed in the shady world of online poker rooms as the game experienced a boom in popularity during the noughties. However, this also coincided with the US government’s decision to pass the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which prohibited gambling businesses from knowingly accepting online payments pertaining to a bet or wagering federal states.

Allegedly, Tzvetkoff’s firm played a key role in facilitating unlawful payments for poker brands, and he was arrested in Las Vegas in 2010 on charges of money laundering and bank fraud. Facing 75 years in prison, he decided to cooperate with the police and provided information that led to an event called ‘Black Friday’ (which saw three major poker sites and 11 high profile individuals targeted).

Market leaders Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker didn’t survive the sting, while PokerStars only survived by the skin of its teeth. The book charts all this and Tzvetkoff’s initial rise and wealth accumulation, while providing a fascinating insight into poker’s boom industry and the corruption that underpinned it stateside. It’s well worth a read!

One of the Best Books About Gambling – Bringing Down the House

Of all the books about online gambling, this is arguably the single most fascinating and insightful. Penned by Ben Mezrich, it charts the incredible story of former MIT professor and obsessive gambler J.P. Massar and six of his students, who transcended the world of academia to enjoy significant success on the Vegas strip.

During the 80s and 90s, these highly intelligent but rebellious students joined an underground blackjack club, regularly jetting off to Vegas with hundreds and thousands of dollars and fake IDs strapped to their bodies. Here, they’d deploy a unique and detailed card-counting system (which also included cues and role-playing) that had been developed by the aforementioned Massar, while drawing funding from a number of anonymous and wealthy investors.

Of course, the group’s system was so successful that they began to fund themselves over time, earning more than $3 million from various casinos in Vegas. This incredible and well-written book relays their narrative in detail, while it also takes a sneak peek at the shadowy corporate Vegas underworld and the numerous attempts at card counting that took place during the 1990s.

Incredibly, the MIT team grew noticeably as it continued to enjoy sustained success, eventually featuring more than 80 players in various US states. These team members travelled across the globe, and at any given time, nearly 30 would be gambling simultaneously at casinos throughout the world. This is a truly engrossing tale, while the dynamic writing style of Mezrich only adds to the book’s immense appeal.

Interestingly, this book has also become even more interesting in the age of online gambling, which has revolutionized blackjack and made techniques such as card counting largely ineffective. We’d definitely recommend reading it, especially as it also highlights the way in which excellent numeracy skills can also give you a competitive when playing blackjack online.

Dueling with Kings – Navigating the World of Daily Fantasy Sports Betting

There are two things that you should know about author Daniel Barbarisi. Firstly, he’s well-versed in several gambling verticals and activities, having previous written an engaging and insightful book on poker. Secondly, he utilizes creative writing techniques and narratives to bring his stories to life, often melding fiction and non-fiction elements to create truly unique books about gambling.

His best work is undoubtedly ‘Dueling with Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports’. This offers a thrilling insight into the world of daily fantasy sports betting, and the intriguing rivalry that exists between the two most established and dominant DFS magnates (namely DraftKings and FanDuel).

The story’s narrator Mr. Daniel is the main protagonist here, as he explores the rivalry between these two brands and the untold stories of the millionaire backers behind them. He also offers pointed and insightful tips on how to bet on Daily Fantasy Sports, introducing an informative and non-fiction element to a book that often reads as a thrilling novel.

Ultimately, this is one of the best books about gambling and not many of its rivals can match it for creativity, as it offers immense value whether you’re a fan of the online gambling underworld or want to learn more about daily fantasy sports betting. It’s also worth seeking out other Daniel Barbarisi book if you’re a fan of gambling, particularly if you also enjoy playing online poker.

The Theory Of Poker – How to Think and Play Like a Professional

Of all the available gambling strategy books, David Sklansky’s ‘The Theory Of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One’ is arguably the most insightful. In fact, this is an exhaustive and incredibly detailed guide to poker, written by a man who plied his trade as a professional and was renowned for his mathematical approach to the game.

He also earned three money finishes on the World Poker Tour, while collecting three bracelets during the World Series of Poker. So, he’s well versed in the world of professional poker, so this book explores many of the practical and psychological theories and principles of play while applying his own real work experiences.

Initially, you’ll learn all about the fundamental theories and of poker gameplay, including the importance of strategizing as if you can see each of your opponents’ hands. To explore all of the theoretical factors in detail, Sklansky examines five historical games, explaining each one in comprehensive detail and offering summaries in the accompanying appendix.

Perhaps the most fascinating chapters, however, all focus on the role that psychology and bluffing play in being a successful poker player. These factors are all crucial whether engaging in one-on-one gameplay or larger games, while they also impact everything from when you chose to raise and how you interpret hands to positional value and how implied probability changes during the course of a match.

The fact that Sklansky often writes about complex theories and uses technical poker terminology throughout the entirety of the book may be off-putting to some, but he does provide a comprehensive glossary of terms at the end. This book was published by Two Plus Two in 1999 and is available in paperback format, while it remains a seminal source of information for poker players across the globe.

The Last Word

That’s it for our list of the world’s top gambling books, which vary wildly in nature and offer something very different to readers. From tales of online gambling pioneers and the successful MIT blackjack players to thrilling, fiction-like tales and foundational poker guides, they’re typical of the genre and represent a fascinatingly diverse corner of the literary world.

Interestingly, poker seems to dominate this literary space too, despite the fact that online poker remains significantly less popular than slots and table games. This has much to do with the enduring legacy of the game and the fallout from its halcyon days during the noughties, which is charted superbly in ‘Alligator Blood: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the High-rolling Whiz-kid who Controlled Online Poker’s Billions’ by author James Leighton.

‘Dueling with Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports’ is another exceptional book, both in terms of its structure and subject matter. Certainly, the focus on daily fantasy sports and competing DFS giants DraftKings and FanDuel sheds light on a fast-growing and relatively unknown online betting vertical, and the books deserves its status as one of the best books about gambling for this reason alone.

Ultimately, your pick of the best and most interesting online gambling books will vary depending on your preferred games and experience level. However, there’s certainly plenty of choice available, and this is only likely to become even more diverse over time!