AFR Rich List #27
Laurence Escalante $3.90 billionLAST YEAR: $3.04 BILLION AGE: 41, PERTH
Escalante, started Virtual Gaming Worlds in 2010, offering punters the chance to play games such as Chumba Casino and Luckyland Slots. Illegal in Australia, the games use a sweepstakes model to comply with US law and the profits have flowed – a buyback announced in March valued VGW at $3.7b. Escalante has long flagged a US public listing for VGW, although regulatory risks emerged last year when the company settled a class action in Kentucky claiming its games violated the state’s laws against games of chance.
