Others : The gambling industry's personalities (part 2)

Steve Wynn

Due to his significant affairs in Las Vegas and Macao, all related to gambling industry, he became the third “big” player on this market. Steve was born in 1942 in Connecticut. The “first” steps in gambling industry were made by his father, the owner of the network of bingo clubs in the west of the U.S. Because his father died when he was still a student at Pennsylvania University, he has to take care of the business after graduation.

But Steve’s business starts to develop rapidly in 1967. At the beginning he bought a part of the casino hotel “Frontier” in Las Vegas and moved his residence here together with his wife. Because he didn’t have enough money to build his own casino, Steve tried to help the well known owners of the famous casinos to improve their business. Taking courage and seeing the opportunities he concentrated on rebuilding already existent casinos. His first success was Golden Nugget.

He enlivened the casino by giving to it the allure of a luxurious institution and people swarmed. Another successful renovation was Mirage, a casino from Las Vegas. Again, Steve put his “luxurious” ideas in practice. Mirage became the most famous casino in Las Vegas attracting the players with the best rooms and hotel services, an artificial volcano, a big park. In one word he bets on the “wow” factor. And he didn’t stop there.

He had ideas for a new casino named Bellagio, where he constructed an artificial lake, an internal greenhouse, an art gallery, expensive boutiques and restaurants. It’s no wonder he has become one of the richest players on the gambling market. To build a new casino Steve sold the Mirage in 2000 to the company MGM Grand, which changed its name to MGM Mirage.

So in April 2005, he inaugurated the new casino named Wynn Las Vegas, established around Desert Inn. Steve gambling businesses are developing not only in Las Vegas, he also try to conquer the Asian market. He intends to open a new casino in Macao.

His various activities in the gambling industry and his huge revenues places him in Forbes world rating on the 365th position with a fortune of 2.1 billion dollars.


Stanley Ho

The most recognizedable figure in the gambling industry is for certainly Stanley Ho who for more than 30 years had a monopoly in Asia, more specifically in Macao. He was born in 1921 in Hong Kong and came from a very rich and important family.

Instead of the prosperity of his family he had to face many difficulties including problems with money. The financial problems affected the entire Ho family. His father has to face bankruptcy and he left Stanley with two sisters and mother. And his two brothers committed a suicide. Being an ambitious person he moved beyond all this and he successfully graduated from Hong Kong University and learned three languages while attending that school.

He began his career in a trade company, established in Macao responsible for sea trade. Due to his skill and knowledge at the age of 21, he became one of the shareholders of the company. His first million dollars was due to an unpleasant event that happened at sea when his ship, transporting a large amount of money, was attacked.

Many of his colleagues were murdered, he faced the band and returned the ship and the amount of money that it carried. For his courage, the company rewarded him with a sum of one million dollars. So in 1943 he opened a construction company, established in Hong Kong. It seems it was a good move for Stanley because it brung him enough money for a decent life.

But he chose to reinvest the money in other affairs and he found a big opportunity in gambling industry. Together with his partners he won the tender for the monopolistic right to open gambling institutions in Macao and so for more than 30 years he was the leader on this area. His investment in the gambling market allowed him to be in 1972 the owner of 9 casinos, including one of the most beautiful casinos of the world: Lisboa. He didn’t stop here.

So in the 90's Stanley opened 9 more casinos in the Philippines. Having different problems with the president of this country, he had to put an end to his Philippine business. The fortune of this important player on the gambling market grew exponentially. For example in his affairs were implied in 2003 more than 10 thousand people and the taxes collected from Stanley companies represented 30% from the total budget of Macao.

In his honor the local authorities from Macao, give his name to a street in 1998, being thus the first living person who received such a distinction. But his leadership in Macao gambling ended in 2000 when his monopoly was cancelled and he was forced to accept the entrance on the market of two others renowned American gambling businessmen, Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson.

At the moment Stanley Ho wealth places him on the 84th position in the Forbes world rating, having 6.5 billion dollars.