John Warne Gates Profile

Anyone with a nickname like “Mr. Bet-a-Million” is going to be the subject of more than a few stories, including a fair share of tall tales. That is certainly the case with John Warne Gates (1855~1911). As an industrialist, oilman and entrepreneur, he earned a reputation as a successful businessman. But his exploits involving betting are what made him a true turn-of-the-century legend.
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The Baron of Barbed Wire

John Warne Gates was born in Winfield, Illinois, on May 18, 1855 to Asel Gates and his wife Mary Warne. George and Gilbert, the boy’s two brothers, died young, leaving John an only child at the age of fifteen. After attending school at Gary’s Mill, he went to Northwest College at Naperville to complete a five-month course in bookkeeping, penmanship and business law. Then, at age 18, Gates married Dellora Baker and they soon had one son together, Charles.

Although Gates’ father and his father-in-law had set him up with a hardware store in Turner’s Junction, the constant attention required of managing the store did not appeal to the young man. His wife suggested that it would be best to look for another job, and she recommended talking to some of her relatives in DeKalb, where barbed wire had recently been invented. Almost immediately, Gates was offered the State of Texas as his sales territory, with San Antonio as his headquarters.

When Gates learned that Texas ranchers and cowboys were skeptical about slender strands of steel restraining Texas Longhorns, he borrowed a promotional idea from Doc Lighthall’s medicine show and rented Military Plaza for a demonstration. He constructed a barbed-wire corral and filled it with longhorn cattle, successfully demonstrating the holding power of his product.

Soon, Texas orders for barbed wire outstripped production capacity. Gates returned to Illinois, seeking a partnership in the business as his reward. But when the company owners refused to give him the stake he requested, Gates went to St. Louis, established a partnership with Alfred Clifford and went on to develop the Southern Wire Company into the largest manufacturer and distributor of unlicensed “moonshine/non-patented” barbed wire in the world.

Always Good for a Gamble

Gates’ later achievements would include ownership or control of several other steel and wire companies, railroad investments, oil well ownership and financing (Texaco), banking institutions, electric power generation, hotels and the establishment of Port Arthur Business College. But Gates was also an avid gambler, whose interests ran from the stock market to poker, horseracing and more.

Those who knew Gates best described him as a man who would “work twelve to eighteen hours without a break. Then, instead of retiring to sleep, he preferred going to the races and bet on the horses or have a high stakes game of cards with close friends. After such a period of recreation, he could return to his office and continue to work.”

Gates was renowned for wagering tremendous amounts of money at the track. In 1900, he traveled to England with friends to attend the Royal Ascot steeplechase. There, he wagered $70,000 on Royal Flush with 5½-to-1 odds and won $600,000. An English newspaper reported that he “bet a million dollars” on an assortment of horses and dubbed him “Bet-a-Million Gates.” The American press followed suit and, much to his chagrin, the nickname stuck.

There are other stories of big betting that contributed to the industrialist’s gambling fame, too. Gates once took part in a marathon poker game while traveling by train from Chicago to New York. Play was nearly constant, with meals taken at the poker table, and roughly half a million dollars changed hands. It is also said that Gates once bet a million dollars “on which of two raindrops on a window would reach the bottom first.” He reportedly lost that wager.

A quarter of a century after Gates’ death, Hollywood started work on a script for a motion picture to depict the life of Mr. Bet-a-Million. Bing Crosby agreed to play Gates. But the gambler’s heirs refused permission to proceed with production, and the film was never made. Instead, John Warne Gates remains a part of American gambling folk lore and an important figure in the growth of the nation.

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