Internet whiz pays $10.45m for Hope Island mansion Sails in year’s biggest Gold Coast deal

INTERNET whiz Dean Shannon has paid the highest price for Gold Coast property this year, shelling out $10.45 million for a house at Hope Island.

50 best homes - 2585 Gracemere Circuit, Hope Island. Reporter: Alister Thomson NOT FOR USE ELSEWHERE

AN internet whiz who made a fortune out of pornography and his bookmaking businesses has paid the highest price for a property on the Gold Coast this year, shelling out $10.45 million for a house at Hope Island.

Dean Shannon has bought mega-mansion Sails, a 2709sq m seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home which was on the market seven years ago for $25 million.

Ruth Fea, the agency principal who handled the sale, yesterday declined to name the buyer but property records show it was company Gracemere Circuit, set up two months ago and solely owned by Mr Shannon.

The 48-year-old British-born entrepreneur in 2007 paid more than $7 million for a Bridgeman Downs property in Brisbane.

Two years later, Mr Shannon, a harness-racing enthusiast who was the owner of multiple Group 1-winning pacer Lanercost, bought a 42ha Maleny horse property, complete with large house, for $7 million.

Dean Shannon’s recent purchase at Gracemere Circuit, Hope Island.

He sprang to prominence in the 1990s as one of several Brisbane businessmen who capitalised on the internet as a vehicle to make money out of adult entertainment.

He sold his Today’s Success business to AdultShop.com in 2001 and went on to start another internet company, domain portfolio owner Dark Blue Sea, which he exited in 2009 for around $30 million.

In early 2012, Mr Shannon — who has been described as a serial internet entrepreneur — started online business Bookmaker.com through company Gaming Investments.

The loss-making Gaming Investments was then purchased by British betting group Ladbrokes for $22.5 million last year.

The home has a 176m water frontage and sits on a 5371 sq m site.

Mr Shannon’s intentions for his new $10.45 million Gold Coast mansion are not yet known.

The previous record for a Gold Coast home in 2014 was $8.7 million, paid in March for a property in Admiralty Drive, Paradise Waters, by Asian buyers.

The new record-holder, Sails, already held the top mark within the Hope Island Resort — it changed hands for $9.75 million in 2008.

The buyers then, and sellers to Mr Shannon, were former Fraser Island barge and resort owners Sid Melksham and Angela Burger.

They bought Sails from ­receivers after Gary Chuck, the man who built it and tried to sell it for $25 million, got into financial strife.

Sails, which is situated on a 5371sq m site bought for $2.5 million in 2004, sits on a point and has a generous 176m water frontage.

Sails already held the top price within Hope Island Resort when it changed hands for $9.75 million in 2008.

Hum and Fea Realty’s Ruth Fea, who declined to say whether the buyer had also bought the furnishings which were inside the house, said the Hope Island Resort had for a long time been an “undiscovered” gem on the Gold Coast.

“Some of the more astute buyers, who previously might have targeted Sanctuary Cove or The Sovereign Islands, are realising just what a great lifestyle the resort offers,” Ms Fea said.