Aside from the 50 people that made our final list and the many others we considered, a handful stood out as particularly worthy of mention. These are usually people whose star is on the rise or who are in a company worth keeping an eye on, however in some cases they are people worth watching simply because they are in the news and attracting media attention – not always for the right reasons!
The wife of late Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson is the company’s largest shareholder by way of her 46% stake. Her power is quiet but meaningful – not surprising given her US$32 billion fortune. In 2023 Dr Adelson sold off around US$2 billion worth of shares to fund the acquisition of NBA team the Dallas Mavericks in a move seen as a strategic long-term play to help LVS secure a Texas casino license should such legislation eventually pass. Adelson’s daughter is also married to LVS President and COO Patrick Dumont, who will in March become the company’s top executive.
Having spent time in Las Vegas, Singapore and the Philippines, Tom Arasi completes the quartet after being named recently as the new Chief Financial Officer of Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group, replacing Ted Chan. Arasi was for a time the President and CEO of Marina Bay Sands but is best known for his 11-year tenure as President and COO of Bloomberry Resorts Corp – the operator of Solaire. CFO is an interesting role for Arasi to fill at Galaxy, although it wouldn’t surprise if he is in line to step into the shoes of Kevin Kelley – the company’s COO Macau – when Kelley eventually decides to hang up the boots.
Holding the dual roles of President of Global Development for MGM Resorts and President and CEO of its subsidiary MGM Resorts Japan, it has been Japan where much of Ed Bowers’ focus has been in recent years. Thanks largely to the work Bowers has done over the past decade, MGM was in 2023 awarded Japan’s first and only license to develop an integrated resort, with the US$10 billion project having now broken ground on Osaka’s Yumeshima Island. Bowers has also been involved in MGM’s expansion efforts in the UAE and is keeping a close eye on Thailand.
His sprawling jewelry business aside, Henry Cheng has been quietly expanding his gaming interests in recent years. Known for the 10% stake he holds in STDM – the controlling shareholder of Macau concessionaire SJM Holdings – he also boasts a 4.99% stake in Australia’s Star Entertainment Group and will soon double his interest in the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane IR development to 50%. Chow Tai Fook is also now the senior partner in Vietnam IR Hoiana and runs the Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas. That’s quite a portfolio.
A FORMER investment banker and M&A specialist, Clarence Chung has been part of the Melco team for more than 20 years. Joining Melco International Development in 2003 before becoming a director in 2006, he is also a director of Melco Resorts, Melco Resorts (Philippines) and Studio City International. Previously Chairman and President of the company’s Philippines entity overseeing City of Dreams Manila, he often oversees special projects for the company.
Ed Craven is the Australian tech innovator behind the world’s largest offshore cryptocurrency casino, Stake.com, co-founded alongside Bijan Tehrani in 2017. Despite criticisms over its Curaçao gaming license, Stake.com took off during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now a household name thanks to its sponsorship of everything from Formula 1 teams to English Premier League clubs. More importantly, the company has seen annual revenues climb to US$4.7 billion as of 2024 – despite many major jurisdictions banning crypto gambling.
Bally’s Corp is on the verge of entering the Australian casino market with a bang after Star Entertainment Group shareholders recently agreed an AU$300 million (US$195 million) rescue package that would give Bally’s and its partner Investment Holdings Pty Ltd a controlling share in the embattled operator. Regulatory approvals remain slow in coming, however. Bally’s has a strong track record of turning ailing companies around, although Star’s woes may be on another level altogether. The US firm owns and operates 19 casinos across 11 US states plus a horse racetrack in Colorado, and it holds online sports betting licenses in 13 North American jurisdictions. It also recently acquired Aspers Casino in Newcastle, UK.
It’s been a rough ride for LET Group chair Andrew Lo in a post-Suncity world. He has been forced to sell out of the group’s Vietnam casino interest and has been censured by the Hong Kong securities regulator for trying to also sell its Russian casino stake without shareholder approval. His focus has been on finishing development of a US$1.25 billion casino and hotel in Manila, but when it became clear that funding was problematic he sold off control to Travellers International Hotel Group – the operating entity of Newport World Resorts. Lo will retain a roughly 10% stake in the IR which is due to open in late 2026.
Tian Han is Executive Vice President and Chief Gaming Officer at MGM China Holdings Ltd, overseeing casino operations, game development and strategic market positioning across MGM’s Macau resorts. It’s a role that looks particularly good on the resume these days given the extraordinary strides MGM has taken in gaining market share. Once the smallest of the Macau concessionaires with around 9.5%, share has risen as high as 16.6% in 2025 thanks to an innovative approach to player reinvestment and a focus on quality offerings. Rumor has it that Tian has also been flagged for bigger things at MGM in the future.
Former real estate figure Steve McCann was tapped to help turn around the fortunes of Crown Resorts a few years back, and while a change of ownership saw the company swap out management before he could complete the task, the 60-year-old is now embarking on a similar journey at Crown’s rival Star. Winning Star’s casino licenses back is the ultimate goal, but first he must save the group from financial ruin. Burdened by the company’s past misdemeanors plus a crippling regulatory environment, Star has agreed an AU$300 million rescue package led by Bally’s Corp and is selling off its 50% stake in The Star Brisbane development.
India’s casino sector continues to face a make or break challenge, as it awaits a legal verdict after the country’s GST Council revealed in 2023 it would implement a 28% tax on all real-money gaming but with one key caveat – the tax would be charged on the total value of bets placed rather than on revenue generated. Local governments have also issued Delta Corp – India’s only listed gaming firm – with back payment notices to the tune of almost US$3 billion, a number that would surely put it out of business. Perhaps that’s the intention, although Delta Corp has stated its confidence in winning a legal challenge. Hearings concluded in July, but the Supreme Court has yet to issue its judgement.
As Chairman of real estate firm Belle Corp, Willy Ocier oversees the company’s partnership with Melco Resorts (Philippines) – a key driver of revenue given the size of the Philippine gaming industry. Belle Corp owns the land upon which Melco’s City of Dreams Manila sits and as such draws both a percentage of GGR and rent from the land lease. Melco earlier this year stated its intention to sell off its 50% share of City of Dreams Manila, with online gaming giant DigiPlus rumored to be a leading contender to acquire it – a move that could prove a game changer for an IR that has until now steered clear of the eGames sector.
One of Sri Lanka’s most successful businessmen, Dhammika Perera’s Vallibel One boasts 54 subsidiaries across six industry sectors, with interests in everything from manufacturing to finance, leisure, packaging, lifestyle and healthcare. But Perera may be best known for his casino empire, holding three of Sri Lanka’s six casino licenses and operating one of the country’s largest casinos, Bally’s Colombo, plus Bellagio Colombo and The Ritz Club. It will, however, be interesting to see what impact the recent opening of Melco’s City of Dreams Sri Lanka will have, given that it significantly raised the bar for the local gaming industry.
With Okada Manila’s long-time President and COO Byron Yip stepping aside in September, Japanese parent Universal Entertainment Corp has opted to go with one of its own to reverse the Philippine resort’s fortunes. That won’t be easy. Okada Manila has suffered more than most from the decline in Manila’s VIP gaming business. It recently reported a 15.2% year-on-year decline in GGR to US$120 million for the September quarter with VIP down more than 40%. Sato was previously Universal’s Senior Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. He has sat on the Board of Directors of Okada Manila operator Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc since March 2023 and is said to bring over 20 years of leadership experience in hospitality, finance and strategic operations.
Stephen Schwarzman co-founded The Blackstone Group in 1985 – a company originally focused on mergers and acquisitions but one that has since grown to become one of the world’s leading investment firms with US$1 trillion Assets Under Management. Among its more prominent assets have been Blackstone’s investments into the casino space, with the Group having bought and sold The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and still holding partial stakes in Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand. In 2022 it acquired 100% of the equity interest in Australia’s Crown Resorts in a US$6.5 billion deal. Schwarzman holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors.
It’s been quite the ride for former Macau casino executive Chen Si. Overseeing Korea’s INSPIRE Entertainment Resort in Incheon long before its 2023 opening, he has played a central role in bringing the vision of the property’s former owner Mohegan to life. But he was also witness to a series of events that ultimately saw Mohegan default on a US$275 million term loan earlier this year, which led to main lender Bain Capital seizing control. Bain has since hinted at plans to sell INSPIRE, although it’s been business as usual for Chen who recently told IAG the property is operating at a healthy profit. It was recently announced that Chen will leave INSPIRE in December to join Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore as COO.
A former executive with Melco Resorts during its Melco-Crown days, where he oversaw Altira Macau, Lawrence Teo has been charged with bringing much-needed gaming experience to South Korea’s Lotte Tour Development. His focus since arriving has been Jeju Dream Tower, the US$1.4 billion development that held a soft opening in December 2020 and added a new casino in June 2021. Although slow going in the early days, Jeju Dream Tower has roared to life this year by setting a series of new monthly visitation and casino sales records – essentially doubling its gaming revenues from a year earlier.
Former Sands China CEO and President Ed Tracy became Hard Rock International’s CEO of Asia in 2017, tasked with expanding the company’s regional portfolio, including the No.1 target of Japan. While that opportunity has been shelved for now, there have been recent murmurings that Hokkaido – which Hard Rock previously identified as its preferred location to develop an IR – may be keen to rekindle its candidacy, potentially opening the door for those who are willing to remain patient. For now, Tracy is staying off the radar.
BORN IN SRI LANKA and educated in the UK, Ravi Wijeratne entered the casino business in 1993 when he purchased Stardust, however he cemented his standing as one of the nation’s casino kings by establishing Casino Marina, Sri Lanka’s largest casino, in 2013. He holds two of the country’s licenses. His company Rank Holdings also operates nine casinos in five African countries: Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Notably, Rank Holdings launched legal action in August against those involved in the new City of Dreams Sri Lanka casino in Colombo – including Melco Resorts and John Keells Holdings – claiming it had set aside a casino license and been promised the opportunity to operate the new casino once opened.
LEGENDARY Hong Kong-based businessman Allan Zeman, best known for building the famous Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district from the ground up, stepped into the void left by Steve Wynn’s departure to be appointed Chairman of Wynn Macau Ltd in early 2018. A director of the company since its inception, he holds sway with officials in Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China but particularly in Hong Kong where he is a member or advisor to multiple business and economic groups, including the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Zeman is also a naturalized citizen of China and holds a Chinese passport. His business acumen has been vital in helping the company ride the challenges that recent years have presented.
On the radar
In addition to the 75 people in the combined BIG 50, The Next 5 and the Ones To Watch, we also have a list of over 30 people who we consider “On The Radar”. This list is not published, but we use it each year to check for potential new Power 50 entries. If you think of a name you don’t see amongst the 75 published in this issue who you think should be on our radar for future years, please email our Managing Editor, Ben Blaschke, at bb@asgam.com, and we’ll consider adding them to our “On The Radar” list if they’re not already there.
