Ruth Parasol, the founder of the world's largest online gaming company, PartyGaming, has bought a 1,000-square meter ten-room house on a 1,500-square meter lot at 101 Kaplan Street in Herzliya Pituah for NIS 71.68 million. The house was built in 2004 by the previous owners, a Belgian family, which demolished the previous house on it, that dated from 1955.
Kaplan Street is north of Galei Tchelet Street, considered Israel's most expensive street in view of past residential transactions on it. Parasol's house is not on the first water line, but 500 meters from the beach.
Real estate agent Uri Tal, who specializes in the area, said that Kaplan Street was one of the most desirable streets in Herzliya Pituah. "Besides Galei Tchelet Street, which is a whole other category, there are five streets considered good and very expensive: Kaplan Street, Hamaapilim Street, Havatzelet Hasharon Street, and Arie Ben-Eliezer Street," he said.
Ruth Monica Parasol (45) was born in San Francisco to Richard Parasol, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor, and Guna, a Swede, and is the eldest of their three daughters. Her father immigrated to Israel when he was 14, lived at Kibbutz Ein Harod, but emigrated to the US immediately after completing his military service. Six years ago, he bought a house on Havatzelet Hasharon Street in Herzliya Pituah, reportedly for $6 million. Parasol who has Israeli citizenship from her father, moved to Israel several years ago and is often resident in the country. She must now been counted as one of Israel's wealthiest citizens.
In 1997, Parasol struck out on her own, founding online gaming company Starluck Casino Online in the Caribbean, and together with Indian software engineer Anurag Dikshit, turned the venture into PartyGaming plc. Vikrant Bhargava and Parasol's husband, Russ DeLeon, later joined Party Gaming as principals. PartyGaming held its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2005 at a value of $9 billion. Parasol and her husband subsequently sold shares in the company for over $1 billion. The couple are now in divorce proceedings. In March 2011, PartyGaming merged with Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG to create Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment plc (LSE: BWIN), which has a market cap of £900 million.
Parasol has no business interests in Israel, but is engaged in philanthropy through the Bonita Trust, which contributes to organizations worldwide, including, in Israel, Tel Aviv University, Ichilov Hospital, Atidim, Aleh Caring for Israel's Disabled, and Elem for Youth-at-Risk. She also supports Israeli organizations through The DeLeon Family Care Project, which she set up with her husband.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 9, 2013
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