As of 2016, his holding company owned interests in eight car dealerships with one under construction, one golf course on the Las Vegas Strip, a rental-car franchise, and a number of commercial properties.
Walters started gambling when he was 9 years old, when he bet the money he earned from his paper route on the New York Yankees to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1955 World Series.
After 38 hours of play they won $3,800,000, beating the prior record of $1,280,000 held by Richard W. Jarecki at the San Remo Casino in Monte Carlo in 1971.
[1] In 2023, Walters, along with Billy Baxter, "Roxy" Roxborough, and "Lefty" Rosenthal, was inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame at the Circa Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
[14] ESPN reported that people close to professional golfer Phil Mickelson said he was concerned about the upcoming book and the reputational damage it may cause.
[18] In April 2017, Walters was found guilty of insider trading after using non-public information from Thomas C. Davis, a board member of Dean Foods.
Lawyer Daniel Goldman, then an assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was part of the trial team.
Golfer Phil Mickelson "was also mentioned during the trial as someone who had traded in Dean Foods shares and once owed nearly $2 million in gambling debts to" Walters.
Mickelson "made roughly $1 million trading Dean Foods shares; he agreed to forfeit those profits in a related civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission".
[22][23] On December 4, 2018, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the insider trading conviction and 5 year sentence of Walters, even though it chastised an FBI agent for leaking grand jury information about the case.
[25] Walters was initially imprisoned at Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola, but was released to home confinement in Carlsbad, California, on May 1, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
[21] In September 2020, in response to Opportunity Village canceling their two largest fundraising events because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Walters family committed to a $1 million matching donation.
[34][35][36] Walters donated a "substantial gift" in 2022 to HOPE For Prisoners, a Las Vegas nonprofit that assists formerly incarcerated people with re-entry into society.
[37] The Billy Walters Center for Second Chances in Las Vegas centralizes some of the organization's services that include vocational training and job placement assistance, education opportunities, and counseling for mental health and substance abuse.
[38] In 2023, Walters received the Champion of Hope award from the organization, and it was announced that he gifted another $2 million for a new vocational school at Southern Desert Correctional Center.