When you speak about high profile NBA gamblers, not many are bigger than one Haralabos Voulgaris.
Haralabos Voulgaris (Bob) made a big name for himself in the early 2000’s when he discovered an edge in NBA points totals.
In the early days of the sports betting quantitative era, he found a gaping hole in the bookies prices; whereby the points total for each half were simply half of the overall game total.
Bob hit the overs and hit them hard in the second half when fouling and the use of time-outs can result in more possessions and a higher score.
Eddie Jordan, Jerry Sloan and Byron Scott. “Those were three coaches I had nailed perfectly,” Voulgaris, told ESPN. “I knew exactly what they were going to do. I mean, it was a joke, it was so easy.”
He is said to have wagered over 1M USD on a given day betting on NBA games.
Although it took a few years for Bob to crack a big edge betting the NBA, perhaps his most important career bet was a few years earlier on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title in 1999 and 2000.
He placed a lazy $80,000 (his life savings) on the Lakers during the season at double-figure odds to win the Championship.
The Lakers (Shaq and Kobe) went on to win the Title and Bob went on to win over $1 million and accrue his first true bankroll to smash the bookies up with.
Bob claims to have over bet during these years and after a few bad runs even got on the Chevvy Chase as his edge dried up throughout the 2000’s.
He admits to losing one-third of his bankroll on the second half of the 2003/4 NBA season.
As a result, he has had to reinvent himself as a more well rounded and disciplined punter.
Bob set about surrounding himself with the best quants and switched to a high volume, low margin grinding style of punting by exploiting smaller edges and betting smaller amounts on lots of games instead of betting big on large overlays like he was able to do in the early years.
“The Whiz” is the guy Bob mentions created his first model in time for the 2007 NBA season.
“He was optimistic that he’d be able to come up with something by the time basketball season started,”
Nowadays he claims to be betting a much lower volume, but still betting a whole lot.
His Instagram Timeline gives you a fair idea of the money he has accrued and the dream life he is living!
He’s got the stunning model girlfriend, the vacation house in the rockies as well as a sweet pad in LA.
Bob also happens to be one of our MUST FOLLOW sports punters on Twitter
Stevens vs. Brooks is worth how many points per game for the Celts in this series? Curious what twitter thinks.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) May 3, 2017
Jazz have completely taken away JJs preferred Floppy actions – bc they can sag off of LRMM and can also switch. He’s invisible right now.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) April 30, 2017
If you’re the Clips you are banking on CP3 getting ~40 or the 25% chance that Jamal Crawford has an efficient game high volume game
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) April 29, 2017
Joe Ingles is a pretty decent two way basketball player.
— Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) May 5, 2017
He’s a polarizing figure and isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, but his insight particularly while a game is on is fascinating and there is something we can all learn from observing how he assesses things.
If you’re really wanting to get inside the mind of Bob take the time to watch the video below from the Sloan Sports Analytics conference back in 2013.
A great panel of guests and some uneasy tension as Bob throws barbs at one of the biggest Casino managers in the world!
READ: ESPN’s feature on Bob Voulgaris
READ: Voulgaris’ take on the DFS scandal in the US
Bob’s story in gambling is a fascinating one and he’s without a doubt one guy we’d love to sit down and have a beer with to discuss some of the sportsbook battles he’s had over the years.
For now, he appears content chipping away on the NBA and hanging out with his girlfriend and his dog Coltrane at exotic locations during the offseason.
Who can blame him!