Industry of gambling continues to develop at the world-wide level with revenues of 245 billion dollars and the top undertakers govern the whole activity.
Billionaire is the new and correct fiscal term that characterizes the moguls of the gaming industry.Sheldon Adelson is on the top of the list and he is the holder of a 28 billion dollars fortune. In fact, Adelson is not on the top; he endeavored and managed to reach the top. Son of a taxi driver and he, himself, a street corner newspaper seller, Sheldon gave the finishing stroke in 1994, when he sold the Comdex business (the greatest IT exhibition in USA) and other ancillary exhibitions to Softbank Corporation for the amount of 860 billion dollars.
Adelson bought, with the money earned, Sands Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra’s favorite place. Afterwards, the businesses developed and in a short period of time, he managed to create a gambling empire: Palazzo resort, The Venetian (Macao), and in addition, other six new casinos in Macao. Adelson, as any feared businessman, has also rivals, among them Kirk Kerkorian and William Boyd are to be mentioned. Kirk Kerkorian (with a 18 billion dollars fortune) holds half of the hotels in Las Vegas, after what last year, he bought Mandalay Resort Group for the amount of 7,9 billion dollars. Ex-pilot in World War II, in the sixties, Kirk sold a plane for the amount of 104 billion dollars, money that he invested, in time, in Las Vegas. His four greatest projects, the International (currently Las Vegas Hilton), Bally’s, MGM Grand and CityCenter, a casino, hotel and shopping complex are on his business agenda.
The four that shocked the Gibraltar
Anurag Dikshit, Ruth Parasol, Russell DeLeon, Vikrant Bhargava have earth-shaken the online gaming world, being the newest billionaire magnates quartet (their sum-up fortune rising at 8 billion dollars). Having a pronounced business sense, those four became well-known in 1997, when the company Party Gaming was launched on the market. Nowadays, this company is among the world-wide leaders in the online gambling industry and it develops four major types of online gambling: poker, casino, bingo and backgammon.
Stanley Ho (4,8 billion dollars), the Macao king, controls casinos, dog races and sports betting and his assets list outclasses any man’s fantasies. Stanley also controls helicopter and ferryboat transportation, for the gamblers traveling on the route Hong-Kong-Macao. Although the American competition becomes more and more severe, the octogenarian Ho is one of the most loved moguls in Macao and 15 of 18 casinos are still part of his fortune.
The Americans love Donald Trump (2,7 billion dollars) but this attitude did not help his business. Trump, holds four casinos, including the imposing Trump Taj Mahal in Atlanta City. Trump quitted from his manager position of the Trump Entertainment trust, but he is still in charge with advertising projects. The great success in real estate and television made Trump to succeed in marketing, by extending the Trump brand to other fields of activity. Thus, the American designed a series of success products, such as the clothing collection for men, Donald J. Trump, the Trump Ice mineral water, the book “How to Get Rich” or “The Hair Style”, the Trump vodka or the Trump magazine. Steve Wynn, the founder of the Mirage and Bellagio resorts, and holder of 1,9 billion dollars fortune, succeeds Trump. The most luxurious and the most expensive casino in Las Vegas is his own brand. The sales reached the amount of 140 million dollars within a month as of the date of the Wynn Las Vegas opening. Steve proposes himself to invest 700 million dollars in Macao too, as it became the world-wide centre of the gambling.
William Boyd is on the most wanted list of the gambling magnates due to the merger of the companies Boyd Gaming Coast Casinos which brought earnings of 1,3 billion dollars. His father, Sam (who died in 1993) came in Las Vegas in 1941, with only 80 dollars in his pockets, and he span the Wheel of Fortune for the tourists. In 1974, together with his son, William, he set up a company with various devices for gambling. At present, Boyd holds casinos in six American states, but the Borgata casino, in Atlanta City, which building expenses were not less than 1,1 billion dollars, subclasses all the others, by its luxury and variety. The American dream was fully embodied by Phil Ruffin too, who managed to create a great empire: hotels, casinos, shopping and spa centers, dog races, real estate investments and projects, which brought earnings of 1,6 billion dollars. He had not succeeded in maintaining his place among the billionaires if he were not a frequent gambler at the real estate and oil stocks.
ARTE VIZUALE/MEDIA
