Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson has again been named as the wealthiest individual in the global gaming industry, ranking 28th on the Forbes 2020 rich list with a net worth of US$26.8 billion.
Adelson tops a handful of casino and gaming industry personalities on the Forbes 2020 list, including investor Carl Icahn – the man behind Caesars Entertainment Corp’s US$17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts – in 78th with US$13.8 billion and Galaxy Entertainment Group’s Lui Che Woo in 106th with US$11.7 billion.
However, the LVS boss has seen his fortune fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic, having been ranked 24th as recently as November 2019 with a net worth at that time of US$37.7 billion. The US$10.9 billion drop in his net worth means 28.9% of his fortune has been wiped away since the emergence of the global coronavirus outbreak.
Such impact was highlighted as a common trend by Forbes, who noted in releasing their 2020 rich list that, “The richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus. As the pandemic tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes.
“As of March 18, when we finalized this list, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires, 58 fewer than a year ago and 226 fewer than just 12 days earlier, when we initially calculated these net worths.
“Of the billionaires who remain, 51% are poorer than they were last year. In raw terms, the world’s billionaires are worth US$8 trillion, down US$700 billion from 2019.”
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos topped the list for the third year in a row with US$113 billion, closely followed by Bill Gates with US$98 billion.
Novomatic Group owner Johan Graf came in at 230th with US$6.5 billion while PokerStars co-founder Mark Scheinberg ranked 345th with US$4.9 billion.
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