The true story of rebel gamblers

Published June 7, 2026 6:30am ET



Pick up a copy of Kit Chellel’s recent book Lucky Devils, and you might think you’re getting “the true story of three rebel gamblers who beat the odds and changed the game.” That’s the subtitle, after all. But what you’re actually getting is a stranger, sadder, more fascinating book about obsession for obsession’s sake, a history of early computing, and the brutal optimization of gambling over the last 50 years.

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