31 October 2013
The divorcing husband and wife shareholders in the bwin.party digital gaming empire have agreed to sell their combined 14% stake in the firm — worth £140 million — if it is successful in winning a licence in New Jersey, the third US state to allow online gambling.
Russ DeLeon and Ruth Parasol, who made fortunes from telephone sex lines and adult websites, will put their stakes of 7.16% each into a trust to be sold over the next three years under an agreement with New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement. The couple separated in 2010.
Under state law, substantial shareholders in gaming groups also have to submit individual licence applications, which the DeLeons did not want to do for reasons of privacy, bwin.party said.
