The billionaire’s name is Laurence Escalante, and he is only 39 years old. He started as a worker at Hungry Jacks and The Reject Shop but has now joined Australia’s Richest 250 people for the first time.
He is the founder of Virtual Gaming Worlds, a social gaming business that focuses on casino games, mostly slots and poker. In other words, VGW owns and operates Chumba Casino and Global Poker.
Even though most of the revenue of Escalante’s business comes from abroad, the company’s headquarters are in Perth.
This talented business owner is now worth a total of $2.15 billion. He accumulated much of this net worth in 2020, which was particularly good for Escalante’s business, mainly because so many people were locked in their homes, playing casino games.
In total, the business founded in 2010 made a total of $200 million in profit during the last year.
Despite this enormous success, Escalante started small — working at Hungry Jacks for $5.65 an hour. Then he moved to The Reject Shop. During that time, he was also studying at Sydney’s Macquarie University.
The hard work and studies have paid off as Escalante has recently moved from his bungalow to an apartment on the South Perth Esplanade, the total worth of which is $7.5 million.
Escalante’s business disrupts both the online social casino and the poker industry with its unique and innovative technologies for the sweepstakes world. This is especially evident at the Chumba Casino, which players can access via Facebook. Players can buy virtual currency and get free sweepstakes credits which are then used to play a wide range of games, mainly pokies.
The winnings can be transferred to real money later on, and that’s the basis of this whole business and the main reason for the Aussie’s staggering success.
However, there were hurdles for Escalante’s business, especially since his company primarily earns its profits from American players, and gambling is largely illegal in the US. However, the Aussie found a loophole to offer his online pokies and poker sites as sweepstakes instead of regular gambling sites.
Players don’t need to buy the Sweep Coins used for gambling directly from Chumba Casino or Global Poker, which is precisely why the sites aren’t illegal in the US. Players effectively gamble for real money, but a virtual currency is used in practice, which is why it isn’t officially considered gambling.
Thanks to this loophole, Escalante now owns the beautiful four-bedroom apartment that also comes with three bathrooms, four toilets, and three parking spaces. More importantly, his business is what made his enormous net worth and his status as one of Australia’s wealthiest people possible.
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