Dr. Mike Orkin is a statistics professor and consultant and a nationally known authority on probability and gambling games. He has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows. Dr. Orkin has been an invited speaker at conferences and events and was a speaker in the Google Tech Talk series (“Decision Making and Chance,” Sept, 2006). He is the author of several books, including “The Story of Chance – What’s Luck Got to Do With It?” (Innovative Ink / Kendall Hunt, 2024), “Probability and Statistics Made Interesting,” (Kendall Hunt, 2022),“What are the Odds? Chance in Everyday Life” (W.H. Freeman, 2000), and “Can You Win? The Real Odds for Casino Gambling, Sports Betting, and Lotteries” (W.H. Freeman, 1991).

Mike has published numerous research papers in statistics and game theory. He has authored data mining software featured in Wired Magazine and has consulted for Las Vegas odds makers as well as numerous clients in the field of gambling and chance, both in the government and private sector.

Mike has a B.A. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Statistics, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He is Professor of Statistics Emeritus at California State University, East Bay, where he was a professor and chair of the statistics department for many years. Later, he became Vice Chancellor of Educational Services at the Peralta Community College District. He currently teaches mathematics at Berkeley City College. Mike is also currently on the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University in Oakland, California.