Jon Yarbrough

As a college student in Tennessee, Yarbrough struck a deal with a local arcade: He'd lend the place his foosball table, and they'd split the revenue 50-50. People lined up to play. He doubled down after graduating, buying more foosball tables as well as pinball machines and put them in other arcades. He then started creating his own video games. He founded Video Gaming Technologies in 1991. The company makes networked multi-player video games and expanded alongside the rise of tribal casinos. Yarbrough sold the company to Australian firm Aristocrat Leisure for $1.28 billion in October 2014.