Scheinberg was founder and former CEO of Rational Group, the Isle of Man-based business that owns websites PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Publicly traded Amaya Gaming Group, which had $1.1 billion of revenue in 2015, paid $4.9 billion in cash for Rational Group in June 2014. Scheinberg sold his stock and resigned two months later.
Scheinberg's fortune is derived from the sale of a 75% stake in Isle of Man-based Rational Group, the owner of PokerStars, an online gambling company. PokerStars was sold to Pointe-Claire, Quebec-based Amaya Gaming Group for $4.9 billion in June 2014. Another $400 million was deferred, and would be paid after three years if the business hit predetermined performance benchmarks, according a Bloomberg News article about the acquisition published on June 13, 2014. This was paid in 2017, according to a person familiar with the company.
His ownership stake was provided by a person familiar with the company, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
The sum of the proceeds that make up the billionaire's personal fortune is net of taxes. The top rate for Isle of Man residents is 20% and has an annual cap of 120,000 pounds ($200,000).
Scheinberg is the founder of Mohari Hospitality, a global investment company set up to invest in real estate assets in the luxury lifestyle sector. The company has invested over $750 million in luxury hospitality projects since 2017, according to its website. Investments include a 200-room Four Seasons hotel in Madrid, Spain, a 2,200-acre luxury resort in Costa Rica, and the Tao Group, a hospitality conglomerate.
Through Mohari, Scheinberg is credited with a 40% stake in the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, an ultra-luxury cruise line. The business is valued using calculated revenues and the enterprise-value-to-sales multiple of three publicly traded peers: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Carnival Corp.
The methodology for valuing Mohari Hospitality was updated in April 2025, which caused Scheinberg's net worth to decrease by about $500 million.
A spokesperson for Scheinberg declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Mark Scheinberg was born in 1973 and grew up in Israel before moving with his family to Canada in the 1980s. He founded PokerStars in 2001 and together with his father, Isai, built the company into the world's largest online poker site.
PokerStars, along with competitor Full Tilt Poker, was charged with fraud, money laundering and violation of United States federal gambling laws in 2011. PokerStars agreed at the time to forfeit $547 million to the U.S. and pay an additional $184 million owed by foreign players of Full Tilt Poker, whose assets it acquired. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing. Scheinberg concurrently came to a separate agreement with government authorities related to potential civil claims over gambling regulations, again without any admission of wrongdoing.
The billionaire was chief executive officer and majority shareholder of Isle of Man-based Rational Group, the company that controlled PokerStars. Rational had $1.1 billion of revenue in 2013 and was sold to Pointe-Claire, Quebec-based Amaya Gaming Group for $4.9 billion in August 2014.