In the American business magazine Forbes you can read all about the rich and famous. It also has a website with interesting articles. The most read articles are the ones listing the richest gamble people in the world. Interesting about the 2017 ‘richest people’ list is that it contains a lot of gambling company directors.
How to make it to the billionaires list?
Only the richest people in the world make it to the so-called ‘Billionaires List’. You usually don’t up in there with ‘just’ winning the Jackpot! In fact, the minimum amount of money you need to have to be mentioned by Forbes is, not surprisingly 1 billion dollars. Interestingly enough 27 billionaires who’ve made their fortune in the gambling world have made it to the Forbes list. So it can be said that they’re very good gamblers! Who are these people and how did they earn this money?
1 – The richest billionaire: Sheldon Anderson
Most billionaires in the Forbes list are men. The richest one is a very successful entrepreneur called Sheldon Anderson. His total net worth is more than 30,4 billion dollars! The 75-year old billionaire has made his fortune with Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Thanks to this company thousands of people every day the impressive The Venetian casino. Even at his age he is still a busy CEO and main shareholder. He involved in the creation of a mega casino called the Parisian, established in gambling paradise Macau.
2 – Creator of mega casinos in Macau: Lui Che Woo
The second billionaire in the list is way ‘poorer’ than Sheldon Anderson. However, with a fortune of 12,1 billion dollars no one feels sad for him. The almost 90 year old Lui Che Woo has established Galaxy Entertainment Group. It’s responsible for the establishment of four mega casinos in Macau. Galaxy Macau is the most successful casino in the world when you look into revenue. Lui Che Woo also does good things with his money. For example, he finances the ‘Lui Che Woo’ prizes, which can be seen as the Asian Noble prizes.
3 – The godfather of the European gambling industry: Johann Graf
Did you know that the European gambling industry also has its own ‘godfather’? His name is Johann Graf and he owns about 7.2 billion dollars. You probably know his company, Novomatic. It’s one of the biggest casino operators in the world and produces slot machines in more than eighty countries. You can find Novomatic all over the world. In the Netherlands the company works together with Casino Admiral.
4 – PokerStars establisher Mark Scheinberg
Poker enthusiasts are probably familiar with PokerStars, the biggest online poker website in the world. The person who established this website has become very rich with it. It’s the Israeli-Canadian businessman Mark Scheinberg, who has about 4.5 billion dollars on his bank account and in assets. He is the co-establisher of PokerStars and acted for a while as the co-owner of the website. Scheinberg has said goodbye to this function and now earns his money with other things.
5 – Entrepreneur Han Chang Woo
If you want to be part of the Forbes billionaires list, you should definitely become an entrepreneur. You need a good idea to earn money, just like the Japanese-Korean Han Chang Woo. He established Maruhan decades ago, which is now the biggest chain of pachinko gambling halls in Japan. As of today, Chang Woo is still the CEO of Maruhan.
6 – Co-founder of Playtech Teddy Sagi
Many billionaires travel all around the world, and the Israeli born Teddy Sagi is one of them. He is the co-founder of Playtech, which is one of the biggest casino software providers in the world. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1971 and can already look back at an incredible successful career. Sagi enjoys his 3.1 billion dollars all over the planet, from Israel to the United States, Cyprus, Berlin and London. Who can blame him.
7 – The Australian James Packer
James Packer and his sister Gretel are a very successful duo. Together they’ve inherited the Australian casino company Crown Resorts, which is active in Australia and London. The two have used their privileged position in a good way and have made Crown Resorts an even bigger success. It offers jobs to hundreds of people. The company has branches all over the world and will not stop. For example, it’s planning to open a new casino in Sydney above the highest skyscraper in the world in 2020. Did you know that James Packer is the ex of singer Maria Carey, who currently earns her money by singing in Caesars Palace Las Vegas?
8 – The business savy Pansy Catilina Ho-Chiu King
Two impressive women have made it to the top 10 of gambling billionaires. The first woman on the list is Pansy Catilina Ho-Chiu King, who is proud to have earned 4,2 billion dollars in the casino industry. She inherited her business savviness from her father, the iconic casino magnate Stanley Ho. He gave Pansy a couple of shares in the gambling company MGM China. Money keeps coming in because it operators several popular casinos in Macau.
9 – Angela Leong: also related to Stanley Ho
The other woman on the list is Angela Leong Op Kei, who is actually related to Stanley Ho as well. She is his fourth wife and not the mother of Pansy Ho. Angela Leong has shares in a gambling company called ‘Sociedade de Jogos de Macau’ and she has earned a lot of money with it. Currently her fortune is estimated at 4.1 billion dollars. Together with MGM China, SJM is one of the most successful companies in Macau.
10 – Impressive businesswoman from the UK: Denise Coates
Last, but not least: a very impressive business woman from the United Kingdom. Denise Coates has established Bet365, one of the largest European gambling websites. It was a good idea to establish the site and become a shareholder of Bet365, because Coates now has a fortune of 3.6 billion dollars!