Denise Coates, the founder of Bet365, is most often named the richest person in iGaming, with a fortune tied to her company estimated at more than $8 billion. She is one of ten people on a widely shared ranking of the industry's wealthiest founders, most of whom got there by turning one idea, live betting, live dealer streaming, online poker, or crypto casinos, into a company worth billions. Here is the full list, what each person built, and one honest caveat about how this particular ranking was put together.
Who are the 10 richest people in iGaming, ranked?
Here is the full list, in the order it is most commonly ranked, with each person's estimated net worth.
| Rank | Name | Known for | Estimated net worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denise Coates | Founder and CEO of Bet365 | $8 billion+ |
| 2 | John Coates | Co-CEO of Bet365 | $4.2 billion |
| 3 | Teddy Sagi | Founded Playtech | $7.1 billion |
| 4 | Mark Scheinberg | Built PokerStars | $6.6 billion |
| 5 | Ian and Richard Livingstone | Real estate, early Evolution Gaming stake | $5 billion+ (combined) |
| 6 | Ed Craven | Co-founded Stake.com and Kick | $2.2 billion |
| 7 | Bijan Tehrani | Co-founded Stake.com and Kick | $2.2 billion |
| 8 | Fredrik Österberg | Co-founded Evolution | $1.4 billion |
| 9 | Jens von Bahr | Co-founded Evolution | $1.3 billion |
| 10 | Ruth Parasol | Founded PartyGaming | $1.3 billion |
Why doesn't this ranking match the net worth figures exactly?
It doesn't, and it's worth saying that plainly instead of quietly fixing it. Look closely at the list above: John Coates sits at number 2 with an estimated $4.2 billion, yet number 3 Teddy Sagi ($7.1 billion), number 4 Mark Scheinberg ($6.6 billion), and number 5 the Livingstone brothers (over $5 billion combined) are all listed as wealthier than him.
That caveat matters more than it might seem. Public net worth figures for privately held companies, which describes most of the businesses on this list, are themselves estimates built from revenue reports, ownership stakes, and comparable public companies. Two different sources can reasonably land on different numbers for the same person in the same year.
Scrub through all 10, from tenth place to first
Move the slider to step through the full ranking above, one person at a time, with what each one is known for.
Name
Denise Coates
Known for
Founder & CEO, Bet365
Estimated net worth
$8 billion+
Bought the bet365.com domain on eBay around 2000 and built the company from a portacabin in a Stoke-on-Trent car park.
Figures are estimates from a single widely shared ranking of the industry, cross-checked where possible against public reporting. They are not audited financial statements. See the note above on why the order and the figures do not perfectly match.
Who is Denise Coates, and why does she top the list?
Because she owns most of the biggest privately held betting company in the world. Coates mortgaged her family's betting shop chain, bought the bet365.com domain on eBay around 2000, and built Bet365 from a portacabin in a Stoke-on-Trent car park. That bet paid off into a company that now dominates online sports betting, and her fortune is most commonly estimated at more than $8 billion. Her full story, including the portacabin and the £15 million loan that made it possible, is worth reading on its own: Denise Coates and the story behind Bet365.
Who is John Coates, and what does he run at Bet365?
Denise Coates' brother, and the co-CEO who handles the legal and commercial side of the business. John Coates co-founded Bet365 alongside his sister and has served as joint CEO since the company started, managing the expansion that turned a family betting shop chain into a global digital operation. His estimated net worth, around $4.2 billion, still makes him one of the wealthiest people in the industry, even though several people ranked below him on this particular list, Teddy Sagi, Mark Scheinberg, and the Livingstone brothers, are all estimated to be worth more.
Who is Teddy Sagi, and how did Playtech make him a billionaire?
By building the software that runs behind hundreds of other people's online casinos, rather than running a casino himself. Sagi founded Playtech in 1999, with a development base in Tartu, Estonia and headquarters in Tel Aviv. The company grew into one of the largest suppliers of online gambling software in the world, providing the platform technology that other operators plug their games and betting products into. Sagi's personal fortune, estimated at $7.1 billion, has since spread beyond gambling software into real estate and other investments.
Who is Mark Scheinberg, and what happened to PokerStars?
He helped build the biggest online poker platform in the world, then sold it for billions while his own father was fighting criminal charges tied to the same business. Scheinberg helped grow PokerStars into the dominant online poker app globally. In 2014, PokerStars sold to Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion, a deal that turned Scheinberg into a multi-billionaire almost overnight. The backdrop to that sale was serious: his father and PokerStars co-founder, Isai Scheinberg, had been indicted by US federal prosecutors in 2011 as part of the "Black Friday" case against major online poker sites, and was eventually sentenced to time served and a fine years later. Mark Scheinberg himself was not criminally charged. His current net worth is estimated at $6.6 billion. The full story of how a mid-sized company borrowed heavily to make that acquisition happen is here: Amaya Gaming buys PokerStars, the $4.9 billion deal explained.
Who are Ian and Richard Livingstone?
Real estate investors first, iGaming billionaires second. The Livingstone brothers built their original fortune in commercial property, not gambling. What put them on this list is a well-timed stake in Evolution Gaming, the live casino supplier, which grew many times over in value as online gambling boomed and live dealer games became one of the industry's biggest growth areas. Their combined fortune is estimated at more than $5 billion, most of it still rooted in real estate rather than gambling itself.
Who are Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani of Stake.com?
Two Australians who turned a gambling scheme they ran as teenagers inside a video game into a multi-billion dollar crypto casino, without ever taking outside investment. Craven is the public face of Stake, while Tehrani built much of the technology behind it, staying largely out of the spotlight. Both are estimated to be worth around $2.2 billion. Their full story, including the RuneScape casino that started it all and the deals with Drake and the UFC that grew it, is here: Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani, the founders of Stake.com.
Who are Jens von Bahr and Fredrik Österberg, the founders of Evolution?
The two people most responsible for turning live casino from a niche idea into one of online gambling's biggest categories. Von Bahr and Österberg co-founded Evolution and helped pioneer streaming live dealers on HD camera feeds instead of confining table games to physical casino floors. That idea grew into a company that other operators now rely on for live blackjack, roulette, and game show style products. Von Bahr's fortune is estimated at $1.3 billion, and Österberg's at $1.4 billion. Evolution later expanded through acquisition too, buying the slots studio NetEnt in a deal worth about $2.1 billion, covered in full here: Evolution Gaming acquires NetEnt, the $2.1 billion deal explained.
Who is Ruth Parasol, and what did she do first?
She took an online gambling company public before almost anyone else in the industry, and did it as the first woman to ever float a company on London's FTSE 100. Parasol founded PartyGaming years before Bet365 or PokerStars became household names in the industry. In 2005 she took the company public on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of roughly $8.46 billion, and that September PartyGaming was admitted to the FTSE 100, a first for a company founded and led by a woman. Her personal fortune today is estimated at around $1.3 billion, ranking her tenth on this particular list even though her IPO predates most of the other fortunes on it.
The bottom line
Ten different people, ten different routes to the same outcome: a company worth billions, built on one idea that reshaped some corner of online gambling. Live betting did it for the Coates family. Software licensing did it for Teddy Sagi. Online poker did it for Mark Scheinberg. Live dealer streaming did it for Jens von Bahr and Fredrik Österberg. Crypto-only gambling did it for Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani. Even a well-timed stake bought with real estate money did it for the Livingstone brothers. None of it happened overnight, and the exact ranking above should be read as a rough guide rather than an audited scoreboard.
Building a platform from scratch, the way most of these companies started, is still one of the hardest and most expensive ways to get into this industry. A white label casino and sportsbook platform gets you live on infrastructure that already works, instead of spending years building the technology stack these founders had to build themselves. See our pricing for what that costs today.
Key takeaways
- Denise Coates tops most rankings of iGaming's richest people, with a Bet365-linked fortune estimated at more than $8 billion, built after she bought the bet365.com domain on eBay around 2000.
- Teddy Sagi, who founded Playtech in 1999, and Mark Scheinberg, who helped build PokerStars before it sold to Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion in 2014, are both estimated to be worth more than Bet365 co-CEO John Coates, even though one widely shared ranking lists Coates above them.
- Evolution co-founders Jens von Bahr and Fredrik Österberg built their fortunes on live dealer streaming technology, estimated today at around $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion.
- Stake.com founders Ed Craven and Bijan Tehrani are each estimated to be worth around $2.2 billion after building a crypto-only casino with no outside investors.
- Ian and Richard Livingstone made their money in real estate first, then multiplied it with a well-timed stake in Evolution Gaming, for a combined fortune estimated above $5 billion.
- Ruth Parasol founded PartyGaming and became the first female founder to take a company public on London's FTSE 100 in 2005, and now ranks near the bottom of this particular top 10 at an estimated $1.3 billion.
