The annual list of the world’s richest people, the Forbes Billionaires 2020, showed the highest ranked casino entrepreneur is still the founder and chairman of Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson. The 86-year old casino tycoon has a net worth of $26.8 billion and stands on the 28th spot in the ranking list.
Las Vegas Sands Properties
His fortune, however, took a serious tumble, as just a few months prior, his worth was estimated to be around the $40 billion mark. Since then, the coronavirus crisis has struck the casino industry and brought the stock of casino companies down, hence the value of Adelson, who still owns 50% of Las Vegas Sands.
Las Vegas Sands /LVS/ owns several casino properties in the US, the most famous among which are The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip. Both casino properties have been temporarily closed as Nevada St. Governor Steve Sisolak, initially ordered non-essential businesses to close down for 30 days starting March 17, and extended the closure period throughout April further later on.
In addition to its gaming properties in the US, Las Vegas Sands, through its subsidiary, Sands China, owns and operates Marina Bay Sands, an integrated resort-type casino in Singapore, one of only two allowed in the country. The hospitality and gaming venue in the Asian country has also been closed down starting April 7 until May 4, as the Ministry of Health in Singapore upped up its effort to contain the virus spread by implementing strict measures.
Despite having all his gaming venues down, Sheldon Adelson, a controversial figure of his own due to his constant attempts to block online forms of gambling one way or another, was one of the few that vowed to continue to pay his employees fully for two months, issuing an industry call for others to follow his example.
Casino Billionaires In the List
The next casino business owner in the ranking list, Lui Che Woo, the founder of gaming and hospitality operator Galaxy Entertainment, is ranked 106th, with an estimated value of $11.3 billion. Austrian founder of gaming company Novomatic, Johann Graf is further down, 230th, with a value of $6.5 billion.
Other names on the list include the founder of PokerStars, Mark Scheinberg, at 345th place with a net value of $4.9 billion, Bet365 founder Denise Coates, ranked 383rd with a net value of $4.5 billion, owner of Manilla-based Bloomberry Resorts Corp, Enrique Razon, placed at 565th with an estimated value of $3.4 billion, as well as 648th Steve Wynn, owner and ex-CEO of Wynn Resorts, with a net worth of $3.1 billion.
For the third consecutive year, the Forbes Billionaires List is topped by the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, with an estimated net worth of $113 billion.