Cashcade
A major UK online gaming success story, culminating in the 2009 PartyGaming transaction.
Entrepreneur · Racing Owner · Investor
Michael Buckley: risk, timing, and the long game.
A profile of the businessman behind Cashcade, a director in the Meridian Television story, Executive Chairman at Gaming Realms, and the racehorse owner associated with Constitution Hill.
Business
From accountancy to media, gaming, and public companies.
Buckley’s career spans television production investment, internet and media ventures, and online gaming. Cashcade, the company he chaired, grew into one of the UK’s leading online gaming businesses before its 2009 sale to PartyGaming for £96 million.
In television, Buckley’s SelecTV chapter put him alongside producer Allan McKeown, the late husband and creative partner of Tracey Ullman. The SelecTV and WitzEnd orbit helped produce a run of British comedy and drama including Lovejoy, Birds of a Feather, The New Statesman, and Ullman-led specials, while SelecTV also invested in the consortium that won the Meridian Television franchise in 1991.
SelecTV and Meridian
A media chapter connecting comedy production, commercial television, and franchise-era broadcasting.
Gaming Realms
Current public-company role as Executive Chairman of the Slingo-led games licensing business.
Racing
Nearly five decades of ownership, with Constitution Hill as the headline act.
Buckley bought his first racehorse in the 1970s and has been linked with notable performers including Zeta’s Son, Finian’s Rainbow, Spirit Son, Toast of New York, Brain Power, and Constitution Hill.
Constitution Hill
Champion Hurdle winner. Multiple Grade 1 performer. The defining modern chapter.
Finian’s Rainbow
A proper Festival horse before Constitution Hill.
Finian’s Rainbow gave Buckley a top-level Cheltenham Festival moment in the 2012 Queen Mother Champion Chase, then followed up at Aintree in the Melling Chase. A sharp, high-class chaser and an important chapter in the Buckley and Nicky Henderson story.
Timeline
Selected chapters
- First racehorse purchase: Game Moss.
- Meridian Television franchise consortium wins in the ITV auction era.
- Cashcade founded, later becoming a leading UK online gaming company.
- Cashcade sold to PartyGaming for £96 million aggregate consideration.
- Finian’s Rainbow wins the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
- Constitution Hill wins the Champion Hurdle and Aintree Hurdle.
A life in ventures and horses
From television and online gaming to nearly five decades in ownership, Michael Buckley’s story is one of judgement, appetite for risk, and a lasting affection for the racehorse.