In order to rank the 50 most powerful people in Asian gaming, the panel considered almost 100 candidates. These five are the people knocking on the door of the Power 50 and those we currently consider the most likely new entrants next year. Although we did rank these five people 51 through 55, we’ve listed them below in alphabetical order. You’ll just have to guess who came in at number 51!
TREVOR CROKER
CEO and Managing Director
Aristocrat
LIFE ATOP ONE OF THE WORLD’S true mega-suppliers has been every bit the rollercoaster for Australian Trevor Croker since appointed to the CEO role in 2017. He was challenged early by the collapse of a multi-billion deal to acquire UK gaming platform provider Playtech and back home faces an anti-gambling backlash that has required expedited investment in cashless gaming technology. But he has also helped grow Aristocrat to record results, including net profit of AU$692.7 million (US$461 million) in the six months to 31 March 2023. Long-term, Croker sees the company’s growth coming from further diversification into the online and social gaming spheres with acquisitions high on the agenda.
JAYDEV MODY
Chairman
Delta Corp
THE RUG was ripped out from under India’s gaming industry in May when the GST Council ignored industry pleas and backed a maximum 28% GST for all real-money gaming. The fallout for Delta Corp has been double-pronged. India’s national GST collector has issued back payment notices – a de facto retroactive tax – to the company for both land-based (Goa’s riverboat casinos) and sea-based (cruise liner casinos) gaming revenue based on turnover, not gross gaming revenue. Additionally, the taxman has demanded years of GST back payments totaling almost US$3 billion. Yes, 3 billion dollars.
India’s sole gambling listco is one of many operations facing oblivion if the government does not relent. More likely, Delta’s and Mody’s salvation will be delivered in the months ahead by the Supreme Court of India, which is hearing a related appeal.
WILLY OCIER
Chairman
Belle Corp
AS CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of real estate firm Belle Corp, Willy Ocier oversees the company’s partnership with Melco Resorts (Philippines) – a key driver of revenue given the resurgence 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. Ocier is also Chairman and Director of Belle Corp’s other gaming entities – Premium Leisure Corp, APC Group, Inc, Pacific Online Systems Corporation, Total Gaming and Technologies, Inc and Premium Leisure and Amusement, Inc. Like everyone in the industry, the pandemic years proved tough for Belle Corp, but just as CoD Manila is on the comeback trail as tourism demand in the Philippines surges, so too is Ocier feeling much better about life in 2023.
MATT WILSON
President and CEO
Light & Wonder
IT’S BEEN a big 12 months for Matt Wilson, the boy from Sydney, Australia who was in October 2022 named President and CEO of global gaming giant Light & Wonder. His appointment followed the company’s demerger from its lotteries business and Wilson has wasted no time reshaping Light & Wonder’s priorities. With funds acquired from the demerger, the company has deleveraged and instead focused on investment of what Wilson calls its “growth pathways”. He has also set an ambitious target of increasing Adjusted EBITDA from around US$900 million in 2022 to US$1.4 billion by 2025. Wilson comes with a strong gaming pedigree, having prior to promotion led the strategic growth plans for Light & Wonder’s gaming team while overseeing product development, production, supply chain and sales of the company’s gaming products, systems and services. He previously served as President and Managing Director, Americas at Aristocrat.
KIM YOUNG-SAN
Chief Executive Officer
Grand Korea Leisure
Asia’s foreigner-only casino industry is more susceptible to regional headwinds than most, and companies like Grand Korea Leisure certainly felt their fair share of pain during the COVID years. But recovery has been swift and the company has been solidly profitable again over the past 12 months, aided by the relocation of one of its two Seoul casinos to a new home at multi-hotel complex Seoul Dragon City. Despite the resurgence, time may be short for GKL’s CEO Kim Young-san – a former director of the Culture and Arts Policy Office and of the Planning and Coordination Office for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism – now that he is two years into his three-year term.
For the full list of 2023 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
