The Canadian founders of Paradise Poker – a company owned by Sportingbet – shared a payout worth more than £20 million. The payout was made on November 6, after Paradise Poker reached an operating profit contribution of $150 million (£79 million) in the two years since it was acquired by Sportingbet.
It is interesting that the amount of $150m was achieved just before the new anti-gambling law was passed by US legislators last month. Until this new legislation US were the largest online betting market in the world. In response, Sportingbet closed its Paradise Poker operations in the US, and now their website is expected to generate an operating profit of about £10 million a year, while last year figure had been about £60m.
The Paradise Poker’s payout was made to Bonaire, a British Virgin Islands company which is presumably controlled by the Canadian technology experts. With 11.5 % share this BVI-based company is the second largest shareholder of Sportingbet. When Sportingbet acquired Paradise Poker from Bonaire, the latter received the initial amount of £102 mn in cash and 56.6 mn shares. The identities of Bonaire owners are still being kept hidden.
Earlier this year, Bonaire raised £65 mn by selling 17 mn shares when Sportingbet stock was trading at 385p. Additionally, Paradise founders are entitled to a further 10% of all operating profits in the current financial year.