By Li Hongmei
Lui Che-Woo, founder of casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., became Asia's richest person yesterday eclipsing Hong Kong real estate investor Li Ka-Shing, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The gambling mogul's net worth has risen by $3.5 billion this year to $29.6 billion, about $100 million ahead of Li, who had held the title since April 9, 2012, when he passed Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
Lui's wealth is anchored by his 65 percent stake in Galaxy, Asia's third-largest casino operator by revenue. The company's shares rose 129 percent last year as gaming revenue in Macau, the only city in China where casinos are legal, climbed 18.6 percent to $45.2 billion. Gamblers converged on the island's biggest plot of land in Cotai, Asia's version of the Las Vegas Strip and home of Lui's biggest casino, Galaxy Macau.
Lui was the third-biggest gainer on the Bloomberg ranking in 2013, adding $14.2 billion to his net worth. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, rose $15.5 billion. Sheldon Adelson, the chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) and Lui's competitor in Macau, was up $14.4 billion.
Galaxy Entertainment owns six of the 35 casinos in Macau. Its biggest is the Galaxy Macau, a 2,200-room resort that opened in 2011 and features 450 gaming tables and 1,300 slots.
Macau's casino revenue will rise as much as 20 percent in 2014, the younger Lui, who goes by Francis, told Bloomberg News in a November interview. Almost 97 percent of Galaxy's revenue comes from Macau, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Li Ka-Shing's net worth rose $1.5 billion in 2013 and has dropped about 2.3 percent so far this year, according to the ranking.
Lui Che-Woo was born in 1929, in the city of Jiangmen in China's Guangdong province. Five years later, his family fled to Hong Kong as southern China was invaded by the Japanese. He helped support the family as a teenager selling food on the streets of Hong Kong.
As World War II ended, Lui bought construction equipment left behind following the U.S. invasion of Okinawa, Japan. He imported the machinery to Hong Kong, which was undergoing a reconstruction boom, and made his first fortune.
