The Poker Boom

Another great Times piece, about something I've been wondering about recently with Kevin -- The Poker Boom: why now? The piece isn't directly about it, but it centers on a company, PartyGaming, that made its billions in online gambling (and porn). This could be the next Six Feet Under on HBO.

THE story begins, improbably enough, at a collection of lucrative massage parlors operated in San Francisco. Their owner, Richard Parasol, saw fabulous wealth from the businesses. State property and business records show that Mr. Parasol - at times in deals involving his Swedish wife, Gunna - moved his family into an upscale home in Marin County and bought an array of investment properties while putting money into a leather goods concern and other businesses.

By the early 1990's, Mr. Parasol had a new business partner in his ventures - one of his three daughters, Ruth, the woman who ultimately would prove to be a driving force behind PartyGaming. After spending years in private school, Ms. Parasol attended college at the University of San Francisco, state records show, before she moved on to Western State University in Fullerton, Calif., where she earned her law degree.

Ms. Parasol, now 38 and a resident of Gibraltar with her husband, J. Russell DeLeon, has universally declined to be interviewed and did not respond to an e-mail message.

[...]

By 2000, the new team of executives began exploring the idea that would bring them billions: developing a platform to let gamblers from around the world play against one another online, either at individual virtual tables, or in larger tournaments. PartyGaming is then paid a commission, known as a rake, for its role in hosting the games.

The timing could not have been more fortuitous.

At that point, a poker craze was about to sweep across the United States, pushed by the advent of televised poker events like the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. These programs helped to transform poker, once a penny-ante game played out on kitchen tables by neighbors and friends, into a glamorous event with celebrity matches and color commentators.

HELPING to push the growth was the use of cameras under tables during the competitions. That allowed viewers to see the players' cards and gain an insider's view of the unfolding game.