Some of the biggest businesses today have started out as projects that youngsters were tinkering with in their parents’ garages. The examples are well known - think Apple, Google, Amazon, and the list could go on and on. The same is true for gambling companies - they often start out as small businesses then grow to become massive corporations present in all corners of the globe. This is the case of the companies below.

IGT

Si Redd founded a single pinball machine in a small Mississippi eatery, then used the funds to become a jukebox and other coin-op games distributor for Bally. Then he moved to Nevada, becoming a Bally subsidiary - then he acquired the rights for the video poker machine built by a local engineer and saw instant success.

He founded International Game Technology or IGT in 1975 as A1 Supply, renaming it SIRCOMA (Si Redd's Coin Machines) later, and then IGT. Ultimately, IGT became one of the biggest gaming machine and online gambling solutions developers and distributors in North America.

Paddy Power

Paddy Power was born out of the merger of three small Irish bookmakers in 1988, with a total of 40 shops across Dublin, Ireland. The company became well-known for its aggressive expansion strategy that involved opening shops in most Irish towns, and their taste for some of the wackiest bets that got extensive media coverage. Then, the company moved into the world of online betting and this turned it into a truly global phenomenon.

This, and its mergers and acquisitions. Paddy Power merged with Betfair in 2015, went public, and started engulfing other brands. Today, it operates under the brands of PokerStars, Sportsbet.com.au, FanDuel, Betfair, and several others, and is present in regulated markets around the world.

Aristocrat

Finally, let us mention a company much closer to home that became a massive international gaming group: Aristocrat. Back in the 1950s, Len Ainsworth inherited a small dental supplies business from his father. To boost its revenues, he started to build poker machines - and this has proven to be pretty successful. Aristocrat Leisure was founded in 1953, becoming Ainsworth’s main line of business.

Following a cancer diagnosis in the 1980s, Ainsworth sold Aristocrat - but the company kept growing - today, it is present in more than 200 jurisdictions, providing real-life and online gambling solutions.

It’s worth mentioning that Len Ainsworth went on to create another gambling company - Ainsworth Game Technology - that went on to grab more than a third of Australia’s slot machine market. He sold this one as well, to Austrian gambling brand Novomatic, for the equivalent of around AU$550 million today.