Anurag Dikshit
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Anurag Dikshit (अनुराग दीक्षित) (born 1973, in New Delhi), pronounced "Dix-it",[1] 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. The largest individual shareholder, he owns approximately 30% of PartyGaming after selling 23% of his stake in the company's Initial Public Offering.
Born in New Delhi, Dikshit graduated with a Bachelor of Technology degree in computer science and engineering from India's Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) in 1994. 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 $3.3 billion he is considered to be one of the richest Indians in the world.
[edit] PartyGaming
When Dikshit was twenty-five years old he met Ruth Parasol who asked him to write some proprietary code for PartyGaming's Starluck online casino to replace the software they were licensing. PartyGaming was founded by Parasol, an American lawyer who now lives in Gibraltar. She considered Dikshit's skills so crucial to the future of the business, she allocated him a considerable number of shares in the company.
In 2000, Dikshit hired a colleague from Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi), Vikrant Bhargava, to head the company's Caribbean operations. Party Poker was launched in August 2001, just prior to the poker industry on a whole enjoying a huge resurgence in popularity in America. As television programs, new books and celebrities got involved with poker, online poker sky-rocketed in popularity. Dikshit's platform, which allowed 20,000 simultaneous users, proved inadequate and new technology was adopted allowing 70,000 simultaneous users.
Prior to the company's IPO, Dikshit was virtually unknown to the general public. He remains a chess aficionado and student of antiquities.
In May 2006 Dikshit stepped down from PartyGaming's board of directors to develop new products as head of the company's research and special projects.[2]
Dikshit currently resides in Gibraltar.
