Stanley Leisure Group creator dies
Posted by Sarah Banks on 10 Nov 2009 at 13:11
Lord Steinberg of Belfast, who grew a single unlicensed betting shop at the back of a Belfast milk shop in to the Stanley Leisure Group chain of bookmakers and casinos, has died aged 73.
Leonard Steinberg, born in Belfast on August 1, 1936 was the grandson of immigrants who fled Riga in the early years of the 20th century after suffering persecution.
He named his first betting experiment L Stanley Ltd, which was taken from the adopted name that his father used as a salesman during the war. The first installment grew into 16 shops, but the entrepreneur was shot five times in 1977 as part of a campaign by the Provisional IRA to focus on British "economic targets".
He survived the attack but moved to the mainland and Manchester, and gradually grew a chain of betting shops and Casinos. His empire included the purpose-built Star City in Birmingham.
Steinberg floated Stanley on the stock exchange in 1986, before settling the retail side of the business to William Hill in 2005. The casinos then went to Genting International the following year.
Besides the gaming business he also ploughed his time and effort into a wide range of both Jewish and non-Jewish good causes. He was president of the Manchester Jewish Federation, which had 1,000 hardship cases on the books at any one time.
Steinberg was also known for sizeable donations to the conservative party, and became its appointed deputy treasurer in 1999. Eventually he was elevated to the upper house in 2004. He died in London on November 2.
