Andrew Black

Black was born on 13 May 1963, the son of a property developer and grandson of Tory MP for Wimbledon Sir Cyril Black, who campaigned, among other things, against gambling. He attended King's College School in Wimbledon, where he excelled at maths (according to a moneyweek profile in 2009, not citable due to an entry in Wikipedia's blacklist) and then attended the University of Exeter but was asked to leave during his second year, saying later that he had spent most of his time at the bookies rather than attending lectures.

Black took a succession of unskilled positions after dropping out of university but when his younger brother, Kevin, contracted a debilitating brain infection at the age of 19 Black gave up work to look after him until his death aged 21. Black then worked in the City of London for a derivatives business, but during this time was becoming increasingly successful as a gambler, eventually earning sufficient money in winnings to give up work and concentrate on gambling full-time for a while. After initial success, full-time gambling looked unlikely to provide sufficient financial support for Black, who was newly married, so he set up a software business. The business won an on-site contract at GCHQ which involved being 'locked out of the office' every day at 5.00 pm, giving him long evenings during which to refine his ideas for a bet exchange. He became friends with Wray through playing bridge together and showed him a prototype he had programmed which succeeded in securing Wray's interest and investment.

Investments

Black's known investments include a significant stake in Hydrodec Plc where he has acted as a non-executive director and whose UK operations he acquired in 2016; ownership of Morelands Riverdale, a science park being built at Hampton, Surrey; a 30% stake in golfbidder.com, a sizeable stake in Touchlight Genetics, and a portfolio of early stage life sciences, gambling, sports and ecommerce business.