Ian and Richard Livingstone built a multibillion-dollar property business spanning London cinemas, Florida hotels and Caribbean resorts. While the pandemic has squeezed the brothers’ real estate holdings, their fortune has kept climbing thanks to a long-term bet on online gambling.
The pair invested in Evolution Gaming Group AG early enough for the 15-year-old company to list one of them—Richard—as a founder in its prospectus. Shares of the Stockholm-based company, one of the world’s biggest online casino platforms, have surged more than 200% since the start of 2020 as Covid-related lockdowns have accelerated the growth of online wagering.
That values the brothers’ gains from Evolution Gaming at about $3 billion, pushing their fortune to $7.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. They’ve scored returns of at least 5,000% from the company, which licenses software to betting firms—including a Monopoly-themed game show—and is expanding its U.S. presence as more states legalize online wagering.
“The Livingstone brothers have always been known as shrewd operators in real estate, but their willingness to diversify away from it has proven just as lucrative,” said Bobby Console-Verma, founder of 1fs Wealth, a London-based fintech firm that works with family offices and private banks. “The pandemic has made many wealthy individuals realize they need to identify portfolio concentration risks.”
‘Made It’
The sons of a dentist, Ian, 58, and Richard, 56, began building their real estate business—London & Regional Properties—during the 1990s, acquiring distressed assets in the U.K. following a slump in prices. Ian, who studied optometry in college, set up an eye-wear company in London around the same time and later sold it to Leonardo Del Vecchio’s Luxottica Group.
“He didn’t inherit success, he made it,” Ian’s wife, Natalie, told the Jewish Chronicle in 2016.
A representative for London & Regional didn’t respond to requests for comment, while Evolution Gaming, which is scheduled to report full-year results on Wednesday, declined to comment. The firm’s shares were down 1% at 2:15 p.m. in Stockholm.
Like the Livingstones, many of the world’s wealthy have diversified their holdings into tech to protect their wealth. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest person who made his fortune in manufacturing and real estate, is an investor in Zoom Video Communications Inc. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour has put proceeds from his family’s conglomerate—founded as a cotton exporter in 1952—into tech firms including Airbnb Inc., Twitter Inc. and Snowflake Inc.
“You need to be in the right sector,” Mansour said in a recent interview. “You need to make wise decisions about the good and great companies that will sustain a drop or instability.”
Vaccine Hopes
The Livingstones have collected more than 700 million pounds ($962 million) in dividends through London & Regional, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Still, the effects of the pandemic may make them reluctant to extract cash from their real estate business for the latest financial year.