PartyGaming Co-Founder Sells 66 Percent Stake in Firm

Anurag Dikshit (pronounced Dix-it) is one of the most powerful and weathiest men in the online gambling world, having co-founded and helped build PartyGaming Plc into the billion pound online gambling powerhouse it is today. But this week he sold 66 percent of his shareholding for £213m.

The 36-year-old Indian-born entrepreneur also announced that he will donate all the proceeds from the sale of his PartyGaming shares to the Kusuma Trust, a charity he founded a few years ago, which offers educational opportunities and welfare support to at-risk children based in India, the UK and Gibraltar.

On Tuesday this week, PartyGaming, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), announced that the Gibraltar-based Dikshit was selling 75 million of his shares for 250p a share, reducing his stake in PartyGaming from 28 percent to 9.5 percent. He is expected to sell his remaining shares in due course.

While Dikshit's move will no doubt make his charity very happy, not so happy were PartyGaming shareholders who watched as the company's share price sank by 15.6 percent on the LSE yesterday (Wednesday, October 20), as news of the sale circulated. PartyGaming shares finally closed at 240.10p a share.

However, Dikshit's 'defection' may turn out to be a blessing for PartyGaming. His absence may strengthen the firm's chances of being granted a license to operate in the United States (if and when the popular activity is legalized in the country), because he has a criminal record which would have been used against him.