EFTA01119949.pdf

Wa lsh' s w i s d o m Thi a.4.0the odds an --rf t I Legendary gambler David Walsh explains why he thinks the track is a better bet than the sharemarket. der by Walsh's two car spaces emblazoned with bold signsdeclaring they belong to God and God's Mistress. A hedonistically enhanced AMG Mercedes sits in eachspot ChristopherJoye Walsh says he established MONA,which he says loses millions each year. to repay a The eccentric numerati David Walsh "debt forgetting lucky in away that does no ascended - randomly in his telling-from one any good". humble origins in a housing estate in Its total cost is estimated to exceed Hobart's blue-collar suburbs to become $150 million once the extraordinary att that among the most successful professional sits in its labyrinthine subsurface caverns, gamblers in history alongside his carved out of 250 million-year-old Triassic friend, mentor and fellow Tasmanian. sandstone, is accounted for. Zeljko Ranogajec "When you trade derivatives or bet on Walsh and Ranogajec took on the might horse racing you have not actually made of global gaming markets and managed to anything." Walsh accepts. "The world is in consistently win over three decades. Much no way a better place because you have like the most advanced hedge funds, which ea-acted wealth from the market and lined employ armies of PhDs to identify patterns your own pockets. In this case. I did at least infinancialmarkets.Walshand Ranogajees one thing that might have made me feel a consortium. called the Bank Roll. created little bit better: statistical models that allowed them to He says the nexus between his abstract exploit mispricings in betting odds wher- professional life and his emergence as an everthey could be found. internationally recognised art collector is The Bank Roll's quantitative edge, which the pursuit oflearning. they refined over time to capitalise on and "Art can make very imprecise statements adapt to rekmiess technological change, that are very profound and communicate allowed them to individually generate hun- them quickly. It overloads all the senses and dreds of millions of dollars in profits emotions—not Just our intellectual capac- across a multiplicityof countries and gam- ity." he says, As someone who was a kid bling domains. who struggled with emotional expression. These riversof gold also enabled Walsh to the sort of person that many people these personally invest $75 million in a futuristic. days describe as autistic, art was a fascinat- copper-coloured fortress on Hobart's fore- ing field that was unknown to me, and the shore, which houses a radical contemporary more I explored it the more I realised I did A arteollection. not know." 2 It was described last year by CNN as the While much energy has been expended "world's most far out museum". documenting Waislispersonal history, idio- re The Museum of Old and New Art (called syncrasies and the story behind MONA. he MONA), which shocks the senses with has never really lifted the lid on his invest- graphic projections of birth, life, death and mentphilosophy. sex portrayed in every imaginable way. has That is, how he has managed to eontinu- become Tasmania's premier touristdestina- ously beat the most competitive betting mar- mai kis in the world. don and galvanised critical acclaim. You know you are entering into an After several unsuccessful inquiries. unhinged alternative reality when you wan- Walsh agreed to engage with APR Weekend EFTA01119949