Online casinos have long been known to be extremely lucrative, enabling many over the years to make a quick buck or even substantial amounts of money depending upon the expertise possessed by said individual at the art of gambling.
However, it’s the owners at large that benefit the most at the end of the day, making immense profits from their endeavours. It makes perfect sense given that they don’t exactly have to cross any geographical barriers because the internet does that for them, and they only have to spend money on maintaining the online infrastructure required to keep the games going. Let’s take a look at the moguls of the online casino world…
Teddy Sagi
Teddy Sagi is the owner of the gambling software company Playtech and London’s Camden Market, having amassed a personal wealth of an estimated $3.6 billion. Being an Israeli-Cypriot, Sagi is considered the 6th richest Israeli person by Forbes and has concurrent business interests in real estate, digital advertising and payments processing.
Born in Tel Aviv to Ami and Liz, the owner of a travel agency and cosmetician respectively, Teddy grew up in the Shikun Lamed neighbourhood and went on to acquire Cypriot citizenship as part of a ‘golden visa’ scheme run by the Cypriot government at the time, helping him to obtain an EU passport.
Whilst Sagi has acquired immense wealth throughout the years, he’s had his fair share of shady run-ins. In 1996, the magnate was sentenced to nine months in prison for “grave deceit, bribery and insider trading”, after being found guilty of manipulating bond prices in Israel.
Sagi remains an influential part of the online betting scene, however, with Playtech being a very popular choice amongst betting sites in terms of setting up and maintaining their fledgling online gambling infrastructure.
Matt Tripp
Matt Tripp is the chief executive of CrownBet, now known as BetEasy in the aftermath of a corporate split from James Packer’s Crown Resorts, and acquired international wagering giant and rival William Hill in a $300 million deal. They edged past rival bidders Sportsbet and the deal was deemed as being an extremely neat piece of business since it substantially increased CrownBet’s market share in Australia’s growing online-betting industry, making it the third-largest provider of online-betting services in the country behind $11 billion industry giant Tabcorp and bookmakers Sportsbet.
Matt Tripp is extremely well-known in the industry, having followed the footsteps of his father Alan into the betting world. Alan Tripp was the owner of a betting company named Sportingbet, the name of which Matt Tripp has gone on to claim he had his heart fixated on when it came down to naming his online betting operation. However, this was not to come to fruition as Sportsbet hit them with a Federal Court injunction as they felt that it infringed upon their trademarked name and could cause confusion amongst consumers. Tripp has admitted to feeling a sense of “personal disappointment” over the matter, but wouldn’t be too fussed as he finds himself in the reckoning over who’s going to prevail in the Australian online-betting scene.
Tripp has acquired immense cred over the years, having bought the Darwin-based Sportsbet website and its eight-man staff in 2005 for $250,000, turning it into an online betting masterclass before selling it for $380 million in 2011 to Paddy Power Betfair.
Tom Waterhouse
A renowned Australian bookmaker, Waterhouse is the CEO of William Hill Australia and also operates the website tomwaterhouse.com, where he’s often lending betting advice and is his online gambling venture. He’s a fourth generation bookmaker, with his ancestors having been involved in race betting for the most part. Having majored in finance and marketing, Waterhouse has gone from strength to strength to extend his familial legacy since acquiring his bookmaker’s license in 2003 as a 21-year-old. By 2008, Waterhouse was the biggest on-track bookmaker having acquired more than $20 million in four days at the Melbourne Cup carnival.
Waterhouse landed in hot water for advertising so vigorously that the Australian government became concerned that he’s advertising to children as well, which doesn’t usually sit well with people. Waterhouse later apologised and asked Channel 9 to cut back on his advertising. He was included in SmartCompany’s Hot 30 under 30 class of 2012 list, which grouped entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Tomwaterhouse.com was ranked 19th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia 2012.
Mark Scheinberg
Co-founder and former owner of PokerStars, Scheinberg founded the online gambling company with his computer programmer father Isai. According to Forbes, Mark’s network hovers around $4.8 billion, and as of May 2017, he was recorded to be the richest person on the Isle of Man. He sold PokerStars to Amaya Gaming in a deal worth $4.9 billion and then proceeded to exit the group. He has since made major investments in various sectors ranging from real estate to luxury hospitality.
Rafael Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi is the CEO of The Stars Group, which was formerly known as Amaya Inc. and is well-known for acquiring the parent company of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker from Mark and Isai Scheinberg. Aged 43, Ashkenazi acquired a BA in industrial engineering from Shenkar College in Israel before embarking on a corporate journey which saw him working as a System Analyst and Developer at Hapoalim Bank, to becoming the chief executive of The Stars Group. He currently rakes in a salary of approximately three million annually.
