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 Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional ("brick and mortar") casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of o ...

operator

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 ...

Early life

Bhargava is an alumnus of the

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta or IIM-C) is a public business school located in Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was the first Indian Institute of Management to be established, and has been recognized as an Institut ...

, and also holds a bachelor's degree in Technology in electrical engineering from

IIT Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

Career

Prior to joining PartyGaming, Bhargava was a credit officer at

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

, responsible for managing credit exposure and revenue for corporate clients, and a business analyst in the business development division of

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

. Bhargava joined

(formerly iGlobalMedia) as marketing director in early 2000. In July 2001, he oversaw the marketing for the launch of PartyPoker, and was the face of

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 ...

when it went public in 2005, at the time the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

's largest IPO of an internet company, valued at over $8 Billion. In May 2006, Bhargava announced he would leave the company's board of directors at the end of the year. He also stepped down from his executive role in the company. Quoted in ''

eGaming Review ''egaming review '' and ''EGRmagazine.com'' are related online gambling publishing brands covering online gambling industry news and regulation topics. History and profile ''egaming Review'', (EGR Global) is the world’s leading B2B publisher ...

'', John Shepherd, director of PartyGaming corporate communications, credited Bhargava with transforming PartyGaming into a multi-billion pound company. At the time of leaving PartyGaming, Bhargava's fortune was estimated to be £850 million. ($1.6 billion at that time) Bhargava later became the head of a private investment company, Veddis Ventures, registered 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 ...

. According to the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

, Bhargava has donated around £200,000 to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

via two of his companies, Stellite Finance and Aria Properties.

References

External links

Guardian feature article

Telegraph India feature article

Guardian Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhargava, Vikrant 1972 births Living people Businesspeople from London British people of Indian descent IIT Delhi alumni Indian Institute of Management Calcutta alumni People from Jaipur British company founders