No.1 Sheldon Adelson, $39 billion

Macau’s boom has helped the bottom line and fortune of the chairman of Las Vegas Sands through a successful Venetian Macau in the former Portuguese colony and 75% jump in the Hong Kong-traded shares of his Macau operation, Sands China. The stock price of his flagship Las Vegas Sands is up by more than half in the past year.

Galaxy Entertainment Group. Known mainly through its subsidiary name, Galaxy Casino S.A. Owns and operates several casinos in Macau. It’s a clear example of a company benefiting from the industry being opened up in 2002, although it was actually founded approximately 30 years back in 1988 by Lui Chee Woo. GAMBLING MAGNATE. 89-year-old Lui Che Woo is named as Hong Kong's 3rd richest man by 'Forbes' magazine. Photo from Wikipedia. MANILA, Philippines – Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment.

No.2 Lui Che Woo, $21 billion

Shares of Lui’s Galaxy Entertainment have soared in the past year, lifting the 84-year-old to the No. 2 spot on the 2014 Hong Kong Rich List, trailing only perennial No.1 Li Ka-shing at $32 billion. Lui holds the biggest piece of land of the six operations on Macau’s Cotai Strip. Son Francis is heir apparent.

No.3 James Packer, $6 billion

Packer leads Crown, which runs casinos in Australia and a joint venture Melco Crown in Macau with No. 7 on this list, Lawrence Ho. Melco Crown’s shares have more than doubled in the past year.

No.4 Pansy Ho, $6.8 billion

Hong Kong’s richest woman, coming in at No. 9 on our 2014 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, is also the world’s richest female casino tycoon. Most of her wealth comes from MGM China, a joint venture with MGM Resorts that went public in 2011.

No.5 Kunio Busujima, $5.2 billion

With family, ranked No. 5 on the latest Forbes Japan Rich List. He is the honorary chairman of pachinko gaming-machine maker Daichi Sankyo. The company’s shares are up by nearly half in the past year.

No.6 Kirk Kerkorian, $3.9 billion

Hotel mogul that ranked No. 118 on the Forbes 400 list for the U.S. in September makes the list through a stake in MGM International Resorts. MGM’s reaches into Macau through a partnership with Hong Kong’s richest woman, Pansy Ho.

No.7 Lawrence Ho, $3.4 billion

Son of Macau gaming industry legend Stanley Ho debuted on the 2014 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List at No. 12 after a big rise in the share price of Melco International, his main holding company. Melco International invests in Melco Crown Entertainment, a joint venture with James Packer that boasts casino projects in Macau and Manila.

No.8 Steven Wynn, $2.9 billion

Ranked No. 184 on the Forbes 400 list in the U.S. in September. Raking it in Macau, via Wynn Macau, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary whose shares have climbed by two-thirds in the past year. Wynn’s Macau’s complex includes more than 1,000 hotel rooms; vice chairman is Allan Zeman, founder of the popular Hong Kong party district Lan Kwai Fong.

No.9 Angela Leong, $2.85 billion

The “fourth wife” of Stanley Ho ranked No. 19 on the 2014 Forbes Hong Kong Rich list on her holding SJM Holdings, which operates 18 casinos in Macau. The former dance instructor was elected to a third term in Macau’s legislature in September.

No. 10 Phillip Ruffin, $2.2 billion

Las Vegas-based Ruffin runs an empire that includes the Treasure Island Resort & Casino and greyhound race tracks.
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The global gambling market is a multi-billion dollar business and the top shareholders in major gambling firms have made billions of dollars.

The 2019 Rich List from Forbes has shown that this is the second year in the last 10 years that billionaires across the world have witnessed their wealth diminish due to sluggish economic conditions.

The slowdown in the global economy reflects in the drop in total net worth of casino tycoons. Once again leading the list of casino billionaires is the 85 year old Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Adelson’s net worth was listed by Forbes for 2019 at $35.1 billion which is an 8.8 percent decline from his $38.5 billion net worth in 2018.

Forbes Casino Galaxie Fastback

Last year, Adelson was ranked the 15^th richest man in the world and this year he is ranked as the 24^th richest man in the world. Adelson is currently battling cancer but remains as the Chairman and CEO of Sands Corp.

When it comes to the list of casino tycoons, Lui Che Woo who is the chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group has taken the second spot. His net worth dropped from $20.1 billion in 2018 to $14.6 billion in 2019 which is a massive decline and has pushed from being the 50^th richest man in the world to the 82^nd spot.

Forbes Casino Galaxie 500

While the first two richest men on the gambling list own casinos, the third richest man on the gambling list is the owner of the Novomatic Group. This is an Austrian based company that manufactures gaming equipment for operators all over the world. Johann Graf who founded the company had a net worth of $8.1 billion and was one of the few gaming tycoons who climbed from 186 spot in 2018 to 181 on the 2019 list.

Forbes Casino Galaxies

Steve Wynn And Kazuo Okada Net Worth Drop

Steve Wynn, the former chairman of Wynn Resorts has had a hard time during the last 18 months as he was forced to resign from his post due to allegations of molestation and sexual misconduct. His net worth has also diminished and now stands at $3 billion in 2019. His net worth in 2018 was recorded at $3.8 billion. He takes the 745^th spot on Forbes Rich List for 2019.

Japanese casino tycoon Kazuo Okada who has also seen a massive decline in his fortunes as his net worth dropped from $3 billion in 2018 to $2 billion in 2019. His ranking went from 791 in 2018 to 1168 in 2019.

Carolyn is our legislation expert, with a background in law she is able to cover the current state of gambling around the world