Others : The gambling industry's personalities (part 1)

If we take a look behind the "scenes", behind the international gambling phenomenon, we can observe some definite characters. However, the attitude towards them it's often pretty hazy. Some people consider them to be gifted businessmen, respect them and learn from them. On the other hand, many criticize them. Regardless of those opinions, it's clear that these people are amazing, often adventurous, but simultaneously they have business wisdom, accurately sense the demands of time and properly estimate the potential of their future enterprises. Such people are well suited to make millions.

Sheldon Adelson

• At the moment he is the richest businessman of the gambling industry. He owns the company "Las Vegas Sands", which guides the casino-hotel "Venetian" in Vegas and Macao. He was born in 1933 in Boston to a deprived Jewish-Ukrainian immigrant family. The billionaire had to work since his just small child. He produced his first revenues selling newspapers on the streets. Basically without any education, Sheldon transformed himself into one of the wisest financiers in the USA. While working as financial consultant, he resuscitated more than 50 corporations. Adelson was one of the earliest businessmen who understood the potential of IT technologies. The global show-exhibition of IT-technologies COMDEX was his invention. In 1995 he sold the corporation to the Japanese for approximately 860 mil dollars.


• Sheldon Adelson entered the gambling market in 1989 by buying the casino-hotel "Sands" in Las-Vegas, previously owned by Frank Sinatra. Understanding and accepting that one more casino in Vegas is trivial and unsuccessful, he decides to convert the capital of gambling into a worldwide business center, in order to draw wealthy entrepreneurs (potential players) to his casino.



• In only few years, Adelson managed to create the business centre "Sands Expo". In 1991 he spent one and a half billion dollars for raising the casino-hotel "Venetian". The new amazing casino was spotted not only by gamblers, but also by businessmen who came to the new business center. As many specialists recognize, "Venetian" is one of the most attractive casino-hotels in the world. There you can find more than 4000 rooms, 18 restaurants, a trade center (emporium), and obviously the classical Venetian channels, with gondolas sailing and gondoliers singing their legendary songs. In 2004 Adelson opened another "Venetian" casino in Macao, the first casino of Las Vegas style in Asia.



• In May 2006 he succeeded to obtain authorization for constructing a casino in Singapore, which will apparently be opened in 2009. It is estimated that more than 3 billion dollars will be spent in the process of building up the casino. Currently, according to "Forbes", Adelson's fortune is around 16.1 billion dollars, being the number 14 in the world ranking of the richest people of the planet.

Kirk Kerkorian

• This gambling industry personality can be recognized without any overstatement as one of the most experienced and stylish businessmen alive. He is a living legend, being one of the "Fathers of Las Vegas". Kirk was born in 1917 in the city of Fresno, California, in a family of Armenian immigrants. In his early stages he was enthusiastically interested in boxing, participating in single fights. However, at the age of 22 suddenly he decided to quit the sport. The aspiration to learn to fly fascinated him. During WW II Kirk became a pilot with the British RAF.


• Before coming back home, in 1947 he invested $60,000 and acquired a small airline company on that specialized in charter flights between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. But Kirk abandoned this business in 1968, selling it for 108 million dollars. By regularly visiting Vegas, he observed the enormous potential of the city. In 1962 Kirk bought 80 acres of land on the well-known Strip, near the famous casino "Flamingo". The piece cost him 960 thousand dollars, at that point. The speculation was not in vain, because just about that time many businesses became fascinated in gambling industry. In 1969 he sold it, earning more than 9 million dollars.


• In 1967 Kirk acquired 82 additional acres of valuable land and built the "International Hotel", which was the largest hotel in the world back then. With the intention of making the hotel famous and in order to attract potential gamblers, Kirk hired Elvis Presley for several concerts. At that point he also purchases the "Flamingo" casino, which he resold in 1970 to the "Hilton" company.


• The year 1973 was critical for Kirk. He invested most of his possessions into buying the famous film studio MGM, building the casino-hotel MGM Grand under the same brand as his new company. Nowadays this hotel is the largest hotel in the world. Currently Kirk Kerkorian owns the "Tracinda" company, which holds the controlling interest in MGM Mirage. Kirk's interests are not restricted only to gambling industry. He owns 10% of the shares in "General Motors". All this make him the 53rd wealthiest person in the world, as ranked by the "Forbes", having a fortune of 8.7 billion dollars.

Stay tuned to find out more interesting information about the most significant figures and personalities in the gambling world .