What Is Dan Bilzerian's Net Worth?
Dan Bilzerian is an American venture capitalist, actor, social media star, and gambler who has a net worth of $100 million. Dan Bilzerian started out wanting to be a Navy SEAL, had a mildly successful acting career, earned a fortune playing poker, and then became internationally famous thanks to his enormous social media following and infamously lavish lifestyle. He currently has more than 33 million followers on Instagram alone.
Dan Bilzerian gained fame primarily through his luxurious and controversial lifestyle, which he prominently displays on his popular Instagram account. Bilzerian is known for hosting extravagant parties, flaunting his wealth, and posting images that often feature guns, women, and high-stakes gambling. Bilzerian claims to have amassed a fortune through his success in high-stakes private poker games, although the extent of his winnings has been questioned. His poker career has been a significant factor in his rise to fame. In addition to poker, Dan has pursued an acting career, appearing in films such as "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013), "Lone Survivor" (2013), and "The Equalizer" (2014). However, his acting endeavors have been overshadowed by his social media presence and public persona.
Dan's father, Paul Bilzerian, was a corporate takeover specialist who was convicted of fraud and served time in prison. Dan Bilzerian has faced criticism for his perceived misogynistic behavior and the promotion of a hedonistic lifestyle.
Early Life
Dan Bilzerian was born Daniel Brandon Bilzerian on December 7, 1980, in Tampa Bay, Florida. Dan's father, Paul Bilzerian, was a prominent private equity/corporate takeover specialist in the 1980s. Dan is of Armenian descent through his father. By the time Paul Bilzerian was 36 years old, he had already earned a self-made $40 million fortune. Unfortunately, in 1988, Paul was indicted for tax and security fraud. Dan was eight years old at the time. The elder Bilzerian declared bankruptcy in 2001, claiming just $15,000 in assets and more than $140 million worth of debt. Dan's mother is named Terri Steffen. Dan has a brother named Adam who is a fellow poker player. At their peak, the family lived in the largest home in Tampa, a 28,000-square-foot mansion with ten bedrooms. This house was foreclosed on in 2016 after Paul relocated to the Caribbean to escape arrest. Before their father was indicted, he reportedly set up trust funds for both Dan and Adam. It's unclear how much of these funds have contributed to Dan's present-day opulent lifestyle or whether any of those funds were potentially ill-gotten in Paul's alleged tax and security frauds.
Dan Bilzerian's Early Career
Dan joined the Navy in 1999. In 2000, Bilzerian went on to undergo SEAL training and completed two hell weeks, but he was kicked out of the program a few weeks before graduation after having a disagreement with one of his administrators. The disagreement reportedly involved a safety violation on the gun range. After leaving the Navy, Dan enrolled at the University of Florida, where he majored in Criminology and Business.
Poker Career
In 2009, at the age of 29, Dan started playing poker professionally. He finished in 180th place at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. This would turn out to be his most successful officially sanctioned poker event. His winnings topped $36,000.
Today, Dan is reputed to be a very good poker player. Though his official career winnings at sanctioned events are relatively small, he claims to have won millions, and even tens of millions, in private events.
In 2011, Dan and ten other celebrities, including Tobey Maguire and Nick Cassavetes, were asked to pay back the money they'd won against Ponzi scheme artist Bradley Ruderman after Ruderman was sentenced to prison. They were asked to pay back the money to help pay back victims Ruderman had stolen from over the course of his criminal career. That same year, Dan publicly defended Alex Rodriguez against accusations that Alex had gambled illegally.
During one particularly legendary event, Dan reportedly won $12.8 million. $10.8 million playing a single game of heads-up, no-limit hold 'em, at stakes of $5,000-$10,000. After winning, he immediately took a private jet to Mexico to celebrate. In that year alone, 2014, he claims to have won $50 million playing poker. He also has lost more than $3 million on at least three different occasions. He was named the "Funniest Poker Player on Twitter" by "Bluff Magazine" and is also the co-founder of Victory Poker.
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Ignite
Dan Bilzerian runs the company Ignite, which sells electronic cigarettes, CBD oils, vodka, water bottles, and more. It was reported that the company lost more than $50 million in 2019, mostly on marketing and office rental expenses. "Forbes" reported that many of Dan's properties and all of his lavish toys are charged to the corporate tab of Ignite International Ltd.
Acting Career
In addition to his poker playing, he has also appeared in the films, "Olympus Has Fallen," "Lone Survivor," "The Other Woman," "Extraction," "The Equalizer," "Cat Run 2", and 2016's "War Dogs."
Legal Issues
Bilzerian ended up suing the producers of "Lone Survivor," complaining that he had loaned the company $1 million in exchange for a minimum of 8 minutes of screen time and 80 words of dialogue. In the final version of the film, his role ended up being less than one minute, with just one quick line of dialogue. His lawsuit sought $1.2 million, his original loan amount plus 20%. It was later dropped since Dan had garnered so much publicity around the issue, and he reportedly ended up making $1.5 million on his investment anyway due to the film's success.
Dan was banned from a Miami nightclub in August 2014 for kicking model Vanessa Castano in the face during an altercation. Dan stated that Vanessa and another woman had attacked his girlfriend. Castano sued Dan for $1 million for her injuries.
Later that year, Dan was wrapped up in a lawsuit with pornographic actress Janice Griffith. He reportedly threw her off a roof and into a pool as part of a photo shoot for "Hustler." However, she was left with a broken foot when she fell short of the pool and hit the edge. She asked Bilzerian for $85,000 for her injuries, which he rejected. Griffith then filed a lawsuit against both "Hustler" and Bilzerian.
That same month, December, Bilzerian was arrested at LAX Airport on bomb-making charges. His charges were dropped, and he was released the same day. In February 2015, Dan pleaded no contest to a charge of "negligently failing to extinguish a fire in the open." He was fined $17, 231 dollars.
Social Media
Dan has received a level of notoriety recently thanks to his Instagram uploads (he has over 33 million followers), which chronicle an amazing playboy lifestyle that would make Hugh Hefner himself envious. He has dubbed himself the Playboy King of Instagram. His lifestyle is so insane that Dan has had three heart attacks before the age of 32. Dan was featured on Joe Rogan's podcast on YouTube, where he explained the run-up to his poker career and current lifestyle.
Personal Life
Bilzerian announced his bid to run for President of the United States in June 2015. He ended up endorsing Donald Trump in 2016, which turned out to be somewhat ironic when it was later revealed that Hillary Clinton had been renting Dan's private jet to move around the country for much of the campaign. More on this later in the article below.
In August 2018, Dan flew to Armenia with his brother Adam and father Paul to take their oaths to obtain Armenian citizenship. While he was there, he visited a shooting range and fired weapons. The government of Azerbaijan sent a note of protest to the U.S. Department of State. A court in Baku issued an arrest for Bilzerian and put him on the international wanted list.
Dan was present at the Las Vegas mass shooting on October 1, 2017. He had filmed himself several times that evening and posted videos to his Instagram. In the first video, he was seen fleeing to safety. In the second video he uploaded, he stated, "Had to go grab a gun. I'm f—cking headed back." However, in his final video, he was headed home and was seen stating, "I don't think there's much I can do." There was much media debate over his decisions that night.
Dan Bilzerian Real Estate
Dan has lived most of the last decade in the Hollywood Hills, Bel Air, and Las Vegas. For tax purposes, Dan's primary residence is in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2014, he purchased a 5-bedroom home in Summerlin South for $4.1 million. He sold that house in 2017 for $5.1 million and then purchased a new house nearby for $10 million.
In 2018, Dan rented an absolutely enormous, four-story, 12-bedroom Bel Air mansion for a reported $50,000 per month. He had been previously spending $39,000 per month to rent his home in the Hollywood Hills. In his new mansion, which he aims to make feel like a nightclub, there's a two-lane bowling alley, a wine cellar, a movie theater, a sports room, and five bars.
Bilzerian Family Mansion in Tampa
In the early 1990s, Dan's father custom-built a 28,000-square-foot lakefront mansion on 3.4 acres of a gated community in the suburbs of Tampa. The home has ten bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, a movie theater, a wine room, four fireplaces, and a swimming pool with a water slide and waterfall. There's an entire "athletic wing" featuring an indoor basketball court, racquetball court, and full professional gym:
Just after they moved in, Paul Bilzerian was arrested and charged with securities fraud. The family tried to sell the home in 2004, but when it was alleged that the sale was actually to an LLC they controlled, the home was seized by a bank. From 2008 onward, the mansion sat empty. It sold in a bankruptcy auction in 2016 but continued to sit empty. When the home was listed for sale in January 2022 for $5.133 million, listing photos showed some of Dan's childhood possessions, including Little League photos, still in place in his former bedroom. The home was actually re-listed three months later for $6.6 million, but as of this writing, it has still not sold.
Private Jet
Dan's private jet is a 1987 Gulfstream G-IV that seats up to 22 passengers, depending on the configuration. The place is registered to a corporation called "GOAT Airways LLC" (presumably a reference to "greatest of all time") based out of Santa Monica, California. The plane's aircraft registration number ends in the letters "DB," which many believe is an intentional reference to Dan Bilzerian's initials.
During the Presidential campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Dan's private jet made a bit of a cameo. As it turned out, Clinton frequently rented Dan's plane through a third-party charter company during her campaign. Here is a pic of Hillary getting off Dan's private jet in August 2016 at an airport in Santa Anna, California:
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Car Collection
If you are a follower of Dan's social media postings, in addition to his private jet, pretty girls, and guns, Dan collects expensive cars. Dan's car collection includes a $250,000 Rolls Royce and Mercedes AMG 6×6 G63 Brabus that cost $1.5 million.
