Dr Miriam Adelson, the wife of Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson who passed away in 2021, is the highest ranked gambling industry tycoon on the Forbes 2022 Billionaires Rich List.
Adelson, who holds a controlling 53.7% stake in LVS, came in at number 50 on the 2022 list with a fortune of US$27.5 billion. She had previously ranked at number 36 in 2021, when she boasted a personal fortune of US$38.2 billion.
Despite falling 14 places over the past 12 months as the global gaming giant’s Asian integrated resort empire continues to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 76-year-old still ranks more than 100 places higher than her nearest industry competitor, Galaxy Entertainment Group’s Lui Che Woo, at number 166.
Lui, recently ranked at number 8 on Forbes’ list of the 50 richest people in Hong Kong, fell 73 places on the global list from a high of number 96 in 2021 as his fortune plummeted from US$19.4 billion to US$11.6 billion over the past 12 months.
Making upwards progress in 2022 was Crown Resorts’ largest single shareholder James Packer, who moved from number 956 last year to number 778 with a fortune of US$3.8 billion – up from US$3.2 billion 12 months ago.
Disgraced Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn also retained his place on the list at 913 with a US$3.3 billion fortune, while Pansy Ho stayed inside the top 1,000 at number 951 with US$3.2 billion. The MGM China Co-Chairperson and Managing Director has fallen almost 300 places since 2021, when she ranked at number 665 with a fortune of US$4.3 billion.
In the Philippines, Bloomberry Resorts Chairman and CEO Enrique Razon Jr came in at number 369, up from 561st spot in 2021, with a net worth of US$6.7 billion, although much of that fortune comes form his ports empire rather than Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila’s Entertainment City.
Casinos aside, Playtech founder Teddy Sagi came in at number 471 with US$5.6 billion, slightly ahead of PokerStars founder Mark Scheinberg at number 509 with US$5.3 billion.
Novomatic Group owner Johann Graf fell from number 358 in 2021 to number 552 at US$5 billion, while Gauselmann Group founder Paul Gauselmann came in at number 728 with US$4 billion. Gauselmann owns slot machine giant Merkur.
In total, the Forbes 2022 Billionaires Rich List ranked 2,668 billionaires worldwide, down from 2,755 in 2021, with a joint value of US$12.7 trillion.
Elon Musk topped the list with an estimated worth of US$219 billion, aided by a 33% jump in the share price of his electric vehicle maker Tesla.
He surpassed Jeff Bezos, who fell to No. 2 for the first time in four years due to a 3% drop in Amazon stock and increased charitable giving, which wiped US$6 billion from his net worth. French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault was third, followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.