Lui Che-woo didn’t become the richest man in Asia without taking any chances. As the chairman of Galaxy Entertainment, he built his casino company and turned it into one of the biggest industry empires in the world.
So what does a man with so many things at his disposal do with the time he has? He’s not sitting on his laurels, that’s for sure.
The 84-year old tycoon may be up there in years, but the man is still as sharp as a tack and he has plans to further expand his business beyond Macau with a target towards setting shop in the US.
As somebody who already has 13 hotels in the US, including seven Hiltons, Lui understands that seizing opportunities is what got him in this position in the first place and that’s what he plans to do if another opportunity for expansion opens up.
“We’d love to expand, especially after our resorts that combine casino, entertainment shows, arts and shopping have proved to be successful,” Lui told Bloomberg in a recent interview.
Part of that thinking is understanding the casino market in a number of jurisdictions these days. The US is a possibility, but Lui isn’t just setting his sights there. Japan and Taiwan could open their own markets soon, and those two are already potential targets for Galaxy Entertainment.
He also has plans to spend $1.3 billion on projects in Hengqin island just next to Macau and one that will include a number of hotel chains and sports-related facilities. All that and we still haven’t gone into another $1.3 billion investment to expand its gambling resorts in Macau.
Clearly, there’s a lot on Lui’s plate that not a lot of people his age are capable of handling, let alone breezing through with the quiet confidence of a man who acts a lot younger than his age says about him.
Then again, he didn’t get to be the richest man in Asia without having that steely resolve to expand a business empire that saw its revenue numbers jump on the back of Macau’s record-setting year in 2013.
Lui Che-woo still knows what he’s doing and all these expansion plans have some merit to them, not just because it came from him, but it came from a mind that understands the value of opportunities. So if you’re going to bet against the man, you might want to know that you’re more than likely to lose that bet.
Lui Che-woo would be more than happy to prove you wrong, as he has in all his years as the chairman of a casino empire that’s fixing to grow even bigger in the years to come.
