George Soros is a financial gambler who made some of the biggest bets in world markets. He did not play the tables, cards, or slots. Instead, he used the stock market to make his gambles. In 1992 he risked $10 billion that the British pound would fall. He made $1 billion in profit because of that bet. You do not have to be a poker player or roulette gambler to be considered a gambler. Rather, when you bet big on the slimmest of chances you become a gambler in your own right.
There is nothing that says you have to wager at the tables or in a casino to be considered a gambler. Anyone who will risk millions on the stock market with one wager can certainly be considered a gambler. George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1930. He changed his citizenship to the US. He also studied at London School of Economics. As of 2012 he has a net worth of $20 billion, at least in his Soros Fund. Soros has been married and divorced twice. He also has five children.
Some know the name George Soros as the “man who broke the Bank of England.” This is because of his investment profits of $1 billion in 1992. This happened because of the Black Wednesday UK currency crisis. Despite his “gambling” tendencies with the market and betting on the pound falling, he is still a philanthropist. He has donated roughly $8 billion to human rights, education, and public health. These donations were given between 1979 and 2011. He also helped his home country convert to capitalism from communism during the 1984 to 1989 period.
Soros managed to survive the Second World War though he was Jewish. By 1947 he was able to immigrate to England. He lived there as a student and with his uncle. Soros began his career in 1956 when he moved to New York City to be an arbitrage trader with FM Mayer. He is a brilliant man who has been able to use financial markets for his gain such as creating First Eagle Funds and then Double Eagle hedge fund.
The reason he will be remembered in history after he is gone is the short sale on more than $10 billion pounds. He made the right move at the right moment to gain the profit. It was said that the UK lost about 3.4 billion pounds due to Black Wednesday. Soros stated he had planned to sell more than $10 billion. In the same interview he said Norman Lamont said he was going to borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling. At the time it was about what Soros wanted to sell in pounds, which caused him to be amused.
It was actually Stanley Druckenmiller who saw the position of the pound. Yet it was Soros who wanted to make it a giant sale, which is the main reason Soros is considered a gambler of finances.