The billionaire co-founder of PartyGaming, Anurag Dikshit, has plead guilty to a charge related to illegal online gambling and will pay a $300 million fine to US authorities, Gambling911.com learned Monday evening.
Dikshit also could serve up to two years in prison.
He is PartyGaming's largest shareholder, holding a 27 percent interest in the company.
Dikshit is a billionaire Indian businessman, the richest man in Gibraltar and the 207th richest man in the world. As a co-founder of PartyGaming, parent company of the world's leading online poker site PartyPoker.com, he is one of the youngest billionaires in the world.
Born in Sindri, Jharkhand, Dikshit graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in computer science and engineering from India's Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1994. He completed schooling at De Nobili School, FRI, Jharkhand. Following graduation, Dikshit worked as a software developer in the United States at CMC, as a systems analyst for Websci and later as a consultant for AT&T. With a current fortune estimated to be $1.75 billion, he is 35th on the list of the richest Indians in the world.
Party's founders have long been said to be negotiating with US authorities for their business activities in the States prior to passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act in October 2006.
----
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Pubisher
