Online poker bosses are billionaires

An internet porn baron and two Indian graduates were today set to become billionaires as plans to float their poker website for £5.5billion on the London stock market were revealed.

PartyGaming, which runs partypoker.com, today formally announced the Footsie flotation plans and said their 1,100 staff - from Indian call centre workers to head office staff in Gibraltar - will be given £308million in shares, averaging £281,000 per employee.

Founders Anurag Dikshit, 32, and Vikrant Bhargava, 33, both graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, own the company with American husband-and-wife team Ruth Parasol and Russ DeLeon. The four stand to pocket £4.2billion between them from the flotation but will retain 77 per cent of the company.

PartyGaming's founders rarely give interviews and three of the four refuse to release photographs of themselves. However, Ruth Parasol is known to have made millions in the Nineties by setting up premium-rate adult chatlines and pornographic websites before severing all links with the industry in 1997 to switch to online gambling.

Ms Parasol, a lawyer, lives in New York with Mr DeLeon and their two children. The couple, both Harvard law school graduates, act as consultants to the company and deal with the legal side of the business which is based in Gibraltar because of its relaxed gambling laws.

The site averages about 70,000 users playing online against each other at any one time. New figures released today reveal 4.3 million people in Britain have gambled online, and experts predict the market will grow in the next year.

The employees' share pot will be put in trust for options packages over five years. "It's a very generous gift," said chief executive Richard Segal, whose own one per cent stake will be worth more than ?57 million. Today's statement of intention to float included trading figures showing pre-tax profit in the three months to 31 March rocketed 77 per cent on a year earlier to £67.5 million, on revenues up 93 per cent to almost £128 million.

Dozens of online poker sites have sprung up in recent months, and there is even a digital TV station dedicated to tactics. James Hipwell, the editor of online gambling magazine Inside Edge, claims the key to the poker explosion is the game's social aspect. "It is actually very sociable as you can chat with other players," he added. "It is still mainly young male players, although we believe women are beginning to gamble online in increasing numbers."

Experts claim the key to the phenomenon is privacy. "You're gambling in secret - nobody need know," said psychologist Jenni Trent-Hughes. But she warned players to be careful of addiction. "It's sensible to set yourself a time limit and stick to it. If you're having trouble, let your partner know when you go online."