Mark Scheinberg | |
---|---|
Born | 1973 (age 49–50) Israel |
Nationality | Israeli-Canadian |
Occupation | Investor |
Parent | Isai Scheinberg |
(Igal) Mark Scheinberg (born 1973) [1] is an Israeli-Canadian businessman and investor with investments in various sectors including real estate and luxury hospitality. He is the co-founder and former co-owner of the online gambling company PokerStars, which was sold in 2014 to Amaya Gaming for $4.9 billion. [2]
Mark Scheinberg was born in Israel in 1973, moving to Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the age of 13 with his family. [3] They settled in the town of Richmond Hill in the 1980s. [4]
In 2001 Scheinberg founded PokerStars with his father Isai Scheinberg, a computer programmer. [3] [5] During his tenure as CEO, PokerStars became the world’s largest online poker business and host to the world’s largest online tournament series, [6] acquiring the Full Tilt Poker brand in 2012. [7] In August 2014, [8] Oldford Group Ltd, [9] the PokerStars parent company, was acquired by the Canadian publicly listed company Amaya Gaming Group for $4.9 billion. Upon completion of the sale, Scheinberg exited the PokerStars group. [2] As of May 2017, Scheinberg was the richest person on the Isle of Man. [10]
Via his investment company Mohari Hospitality, [11] in early 2017 Scheinberg became a major investor in Centro Canalejas Madrid, a real estate project in Madrid, Spain. [5] Mohari purchased a 50% stake in the Centro for €225 million from the Grupo OHL subsidiary OHL Desarrollos and the industrial group Villa Mir, who both also retained stakes. [12] With an opening date set for 2019, [11] the project involves the restoration of seven historic [3] adjacent buildings [5] for residential, hotel and commercial use. With a large amount of retail space, the complex will also house the first Four Seasons hotel in Spain, [11] and create 4,800 positions. [13]
In September 2017, a Canadian subsidiary of Mohari Hospitality acquired the Thompson Toronto hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario. [14] The "boutique" hotel [15] has 105 rooms, event space, and restaurants and lounges. [16]
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2021, his net worth was estimated at £3.519 billion. [17]
Scheinberg is single and lives in the Isle of Man. In March 2020 he and his family founded The Scheinberg Relief Fund, to help tackle the direct impact of COVID-19. With an allocation of $50 million, it supports organisations and initiatives in locations where the family has a business or personal presence. [18]
Scheinberg has a keen interest in conservation and animal welfare. In September 2020, it was announced that The Scheinberg Relief Fund would match every donation to the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a conservation fundraiser that works with charities like the Save the Rhino Trust. [19]
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2005, while a survey carried out by DrKW and Global Betting and Gaming Consultants asserted online poker revenues in 2004 were at $1.4 billion. In a testimony before the United States Senate regarding Internet Gaming, Grant Eve, a Certified Public Accountant representing the US Accounting Firm Joseph Eve, Certified Public Accountants, estimated that one in every four dollars gambled is gambled online.
Brookfield Corporation is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct control investments in real estate, renewable power, infrastructure, credit and private equity. The company invests in distressed securities through Oaktree Capital, which it bought in 2019. Brookfield's headquarters are in Toronto. It also has corporate offices in New York City, London, São Paulo, Mumbai, Shanghai, Dubai, and Sydney.
Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide.
Guy Laliberté, is a Canadian billionaire businessman, and poker player. Along with Gilles Ste-Croix, he is the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil. In January 2018, Laliberté was ranked by Forbes as the 11th wealthiest Canadian.
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom. It is the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total online poker market, and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
Full Tilt Poker is an Irish online poker card room and online casino that opened in June 2004. Formerly privately owned by Tiltware, LLC and later by the Rational Entertainment Group, the site was acquired by The Stars Group in a deal where Amaya acquired all of Rational's assets, including PokerStars. A statement by Amaya said the takeover would not affect the activities of Full Tilt Poker. The deal was closed on August 1, 2014.
Rafe Furst is an entrepreneur, impact investor, writer, producer and a poker player. He is co-founder of Crowdfunder and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. Furst has spoken about transformation of early-stage finance at TED, and in 2006, he won a World Series of Poker Championship Bracelet. A 2011 book titled, Shake the World featuring Furst along with other business and non-profit leaders, described him as a "twenty-first century polymath."
Cryptologic Limited was a Dublin, Ireland-based software application service provider, one of the oldest established in the online gambling industry. It was acquired by the Amaya Gaming Group in 2012 and has since had its business-to-consumer division, WagerLogic, sold to a third party.
Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. is a global, full-service investment banking and financial services company that specializes in wealth management and brokerage in capital markets. It is the largest independent investment dealer in Canada. The firm focuses on growth companies, with operations in 10 countries worldwide and the ability to list companies on 10 stock exchanges. Canaccord Genuity, the international capital markets division, is based in Canada, with offices in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, and Barbados.
Isai Scheinberg is the Lithuanian Jewish founder of the PokerStars online poker site. Scheinberg previously had been a senior programmer for IBM Canada.
Andrew Rivkin is a Canadian investor and entrepreneur. Rivkin is best known as the co-founder of CryptoLogic, a pioneering online casino software company, and FUN Technologies, one of the world's largest providers of casual games and fantasy sports.
United States v. Scheinberg, No. 1:10-cr-00336 (2011), is a United States federal criminal case against the founders of the three largest online poker companies, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Cereus, and a handful of their associates, which alleges that the defendants violated the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and engaged in bank fraud and money laundering to process transfers to and from their customers. A companion civil case, United States v. PokerStars, et al., 11 Civ. 2564 (2011), included Full Tilt and Cereus as defendants and seeks the recovery of forfeiture equalling approximately $3 billion in assets belonging to the companies. After the indictment was unsealed on April 15, 2011, a date quickly dubbed Black Friday by the online poker community, PokerStars and Full Tilt stopped offering real money play to their United States customers. Three years after the start of the poker boom in 2003, the U.S. Congress passed UIGEA to extend existing gambling laws into cyberspace. The law made processing payments for illegal online gambling a crime; however, the defendant companies remained in the U.S. market in the belief that the law did not cover poker. A former payment processor for the companies turned state's evidence after initially being charged with violating UIGEA himself. On September 20, the civil suit was amended claiming individual fraud by Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Rafael Furst.
Wanda Group, or the Dalian Wanda Group (大连万达), is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning and headquartered in Beijing. It is a private property developer and owner of Wanda Cinemas and the Hoyts Group.
The Stars Group Inc. was a Canadian gaming and online gambling company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its shares were traded on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange. It primarily operated poker, casino, and sports betting products under the PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, BetStars, and Fox Bet brands.
Entain plc, formerly GVC Holdings, is an international sports betting and gambling company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It owns brands such as bwin, Coral, Ladbrokes, PartyPoker and Sportingbet.
ACR Poker is a US-themed online poker site founded in 2001 and headquartered in San José, Costa Rica. The company serves parts of the United States, Canada, Latin America, and several other countries. It is a subsidiary of the Winning Poker Network.
Hussain Sajwani, is an Emirati billionaire businessman and the founder of the property development company, DAMAC Properties, and his private investment company, DAMAC Group.
Hemant Bhagwani is an Indo-Canadian chef, sommelier, restaurateur, cookbook author, and entrepreneur based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Northland Properties Corporation is the parent company of multiple hotel chains, restaurants, sports teams, and Northland Asset Management Company. Northland was founded in 1963 and is owned by the Gaglardi family. Bob Gaglardi is the founder and chairman of the board and Tom Gaglardi is President of Northland Properties Corporation. Northland Properties is the largest privately held hospitality group in North America with properties spanning Canada, the United States, and the U.K. and Ireland. Their collective assets are valued at close to $8B.
The Four Seasons Hotel Madrid is a luxury hotel in Madrid, Spain, that opened in September 2020. The 200-room hotel is the largest and most expensive hotel in Madrid's history, with suites costing up to €12,000 a night.