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Laurence Escalante is living large off controversial gambling billions

Laurence Escalante is living large off controversial gambling billions

At 42, he is one of the country’s youngest billionaires. But Virtual Gaming Worlds investors hoping for a big payday are increasingly concerned it may never come.

Primrose Riordan and Zoe Samios
Updated
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Ask a teenage boy what he would do with a billion dollars and the answer would probably look much like Laurence Escalante’s Instagram.

Escalante is the founder of Virtual Gaming Worlds, the operator of the wildly popular Chumba Casino and now one of the country’s largest private companies. This success has also made him, at 42, one of the country’s youngest billionaires with a fortune of some $3.9 billion, according to the Financial Review Rich List.

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correction —

This article has been updated to reflect that ASIC’s concerns about Virtual Gaming Worlds’ proposed listing was with its compliance with Australian, not US regulations. It has also been updated to clarify that some of the company’s gaming products can continue to be accessed for free.

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Primrose Riordan
Primrose RiordanAssociate EditorPrimrose Riordan covers private companies and family offices from the AFR's Sydney newsroom. Primrose was previously a correspondent for the Financial Times and covered foreign affairs and politics in Canberra. Primrose has won multiple awards for her journalism including from The National Press Club, SABEW in the US and Press Gazette in the UK. Message Primrose on Signal: https://tinyurl.com/PrimroseSignal Connect with Primrose on Facebook and Twitter. Email Primrose at primrose.riordan@afr.com
Zoe Samios
Zoe SamiosBusiness reporterZoe Samios covers wagering and the business of sport from the AFR's Sydney newsroom. She was previously the media and telecommunications reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and covered media at The Australian. Connect with Zoe on Twitter. Email Zoe at zoe.samios@afr.com

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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/companies/games-and-wagering/laurence-escalante-is-living-large-off-controversial-gambling-billions-20240304-p5f9kc