by Renee Israel
Each year, the Sunday Times releases its Rich List, which features the 1,000
richest men and women in Britain, and this year 10 of those made their fortunes
in the highly lucrative online gambling industry.
The 2012 Sunday Times Rich List includes ten entries from the UK online
gambling industry this year, with many of them improving their rankings compared
to the previous year's list.
The only online gambling executives on the richest Britons list to make the
top 100 are the father-daughter duo, Peter and Denise Coates, founders of the
iconic Bet365 gambling entity. Between them, the Coates are worth a massive
£800 million, justifying their 92nd position on the list.
The Bet365 gambling executives also saw an increase of £50 million in their
net worth compared to last year, showing what a great twelve month period their
company had.
One hundred and twelfth on the list - and second highest ranking online
gambling executives overall - are the Done brothers who founded the giant
bookmaker, Betfred.
Peter and Fred Done are now worth £700 million after seeing their riches
increase by £40 million over the past year.
Party Gaming Execs Among UK's Richest
Others who made up the online gambling execs richest Britons list
include Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon, co-founders of Party Gaming, who
appeared shared the Done's brother's 112th spot on the list with their stake in
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.
The couple saw their fortunes drop by £33 million compared to last year's
figures.
Vikrant Bhargava, another Party Gaming co-founder also appears on the list
(ranked at 329th place), behind Michael Tabor, founder of Arthur Prince, the
betting shops and currently a racehorse owner.
Others on the list include Victor Chandler (founder of Victor Chandler
bookmakers, which recently rebranded to BetVictor) at 462nd place, as well as
Barney and Frances Eastwood, owners of the Northern Ireland chain of betting
shops, Eastwoods.
Befair founders, Ed Wray and Andrew Black, appeared at numbers 620 and 682
respectively, with their fortunes falling slightly compared to last year's
figures after they withdrew from active management in the company. The pair
still remain shareholders in the successful betting exchange.
