Anurag Dikshit (; born 1973) is an Indian businessman who, in connection with the online poker company

PartyGaming PartyGaming plc was a network of gambling sites operated by Ruth Parasol in the Caribbean. Founded in 1997, the network eventually operated under an umbrella company called iGlobalMedia, which then changed its name to PartyGaming. PartyGaming's fl ...

, entered a guilty plea to one count of

online gambling Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery in ...

in violation of the

Federal Wire Act The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, often called the Federal Wire Act, is a United States federal law prohibiting the operation of certain types of betting businesses in the United States. It begins with the text: Several legal opinions and rulings ...

and received a $300 million fine. He sold off the remainder of his stake in PartyGaming in January 2010, after selling 23% of his stake in the company's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

, and a further two-thirds of the remainder, in October 2009. He completed schooling at

De Nobili School, FRI De Nobili School is a private Catholic primary and secondary school located in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India. The school is named after a Christian mission and Jesuit, Roberto de Nobili, who was the first foreigner to master Sanskrit, incognito, in ...

. Following graduation, Dikshit worked as a software developer in the United States at CMC, as a systems analyst for Websci and later as a consultant for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

PartyGaming

At age 26, Dikshit was asked by

founder American

Ruth Parasol Ruth Monicka Parasol (born February 27, 1967) is an American businesswoman and lawyer who founded PartyGaming in 1997. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2005 for US$8.46 billion. It was then a record valuation and the largest onl ...

to write the company's betting software. In 2000, Dikshit hired a friend from his alma mater,

Vikrant Bhargava Vikrant Bhargava (विक्रान्त भार्गव; born 14 December 1972) is an Indian-born British businessman, and the co-founder and former marketing director of online casino operator PartyGaming. Early life Bhargava is an a ...

, to begin working at PartyGaming with him and others. Party Poker was launched in August 2001. Since online gambling is illegal in the US, the company's servers and offices were based in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, where Dikshit settled. In May 2006 Dikshit stepped down from PartyGaming's board of directors and took a position as head of the company's research and special projects. As of December 2008 he still owned approximately 28% of the company's shares. In December 2008, Dikshit entered a guilty plea to one count of

in violation of the

and agreed to forfeit $300 million. "I came to believe there was a high probability it was in violation of U.S. laws", Dikshit told U.S. District Judge

Jed S. Rakoff Jed Saul Rakoff (born August 1, 1943) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Education Rakoff was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 1, 1943. He grew up in ...

in New York, referring to PartyGaming's activity. Dikshit no longer personally owns any shares in PartyGaming, having sold his shares in January 2010.Anurag Dikshit Sells Remaining Stake in Party Gaming
Pokernewsdaily.com (2009-10-20). Retrieved on 2011-06-15.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dikshit, Anurag 1973 births Living people People from Bihar British businesspeople of Indian descent Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom IIT Delhi alumni Date of birth missing (living people) De Nobili Schools alumni People from Dhanbad