Sheldon Adelson is the highest-ranked entrepreneur with direct casino interests in Forbes’ “World’s Billionaires List 2020” and the only one in the top-30. The 87-year-old businessman owes portions of his wealth to investments in the Macau casino market via Sands China Ltd, and in Singapore via the Marina Bay Sands resort.
The global list’s compilers noted that as of March 18, when the rundown was finalised prior to publication, 51 percent of the super-rich were poorer than they were last year. “In raw terms, the world’s billionaires are worth US$8 trillion, down US$700 billion from 2019,” Forbes noted.
“The richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus. As the pandemic tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes,” the news outlet stated.
Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires globally, 58 fewer than a year ago.
Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group founder Lui Che Woo “& Family” ranked second on the gaming billionaire list with a net worth of US$11.7b, Ronald Perelman, who holds a big stake in Scientific Games Company, ranked #211 at $6.9b, while Johann Graff, boss of Austrian gaming operator Novomatic AG, ranked #230 at $6.5b.
Mark Scheinberg, co-founder of PokerStars, was ranked #345 with a net worth of $4.9b, while Scheinberg’s participation in the gaming business effectively ended in 2014 with the sale of The Rational Group to Amaya Gaming (now The Stars). Playtech ceo Teddy Sagi, whose presence in the gaming industry has also declined in recent years, ranked #383 at $4.5b.
Denise Coates, who leads the UK’s leading online gambling company Bet365, was the top female gambling with a net worth of $4.5b, tied at #383 with Sagi.
The remaining top-10 in the gaming sector was led by NagaCorp founder Chen Lip Keong (# 437, $4.1b), while MGM China investor Pansy Ho tied in position #565 with Bloomberry Resorts boss Enrique Razon at $3.4b each.
Source: GMB
