Las Vegas Review Journal – It’s been eight years since Macau surpassed the Strip in annual gaming revenue.
So it makes sense that the region — the only location in China with casinos — is creating more gaming industry billionaires than Las Vegas.
The recently released Forbes 2014 List of the World’s Billionaires shows a large proportion of the wealthy who cite gambling, gaming or casinos as the source of their income also name Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Malaysia and other international markets as their country of citizenship.
In years past, Los Angeles-based financier Kirk Kerkorian, founder of what is now MGM Resorts International, was regularly a top name on any Forbes list. Today, at age 96, and with his once-controlling stake in MGM Resorts down to one-fifth of the casino company’s overall shares, Kerkorian is No. 328 among the world’s billionaires, with a net worth of $4.5 billion.
Pansy Ho, a Hong Kong businesswoman and partner/investor in MGM Resorts International’s MGM China subsidiary, ranks above Kerkorian at No. 212 with a net worth of $6.4 billion.
“Generally speaking, I suspect that it is a fair concept to say that the future should see more Asian gaming billionaires rather than Americans,” said Union Gaming Group Managing Director Grant Govertsen, who is based in Macau. “Asia, without a doubt, is where the growth in gaming is.”
David Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Center for Gaming Research, said it’s a telling sign when eight of the top 10 names among the world’s gaming billionaires have a connection to Macau. The region produced $45.2 billion in gaming revenue in 2013, almost seven times more than the Strip’s $6.5 billion.
Macau, he said, is the world’s best gaming growth market and rankings reflect that reality.
“This speaks to the dominant position that Macau in particular and Asia in general will continue to hold in the gaming world for the foreseeable future,” Schwartz said. “The domestic gaming industry does not have anywhere close to the growth prospects that Macau does, which is driving the increase in stock prices that is underwriting much of this wealth.”
Fantini Research CEO Frank Fantini said Macau, which opened to widespread gaming in 2003, initially attracted businesspeople who were successful in other ventures.
“The rise of the Macau billionaires reminds me of one of those old Wall Street sayings, ‘To become wealthy, you have to concentrate your investments. To stay wealthy, you have to diversify,’ ” Fantini said.
