| AI Financial Society Intern Edited by Shen Wenting
| Liang Ye
When talking about the title "Macau Gambling King", most people may think of the famous Stanley Ho. In fact, since the Macau government opened up gambling rights in 2002 and Lui Che and established Galaxy Entertainment Group, the Hong Kong tycoon has kept pace with Stanley Ho in the Macau gaming industry. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, starting from 2014, Lui Che-woo’s net worth has surpassed Stanley Ho and became the “New Gambling King of Macau”. That year he was 85 years old.
In the 2018 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, Lui Che-woo ranked in the top three with a net worth of US$19 billion (approximately HK$149 billion). He was the only rich man among the top ten on the list whose asset source was "casino".
His business talent was revealed in his youth
"New Gambling King" Lui Che-woo was originally from Xinhui, Guangdong. His great-grandfather Lui Deying was one of the earliest overseas Chinese businessmen in the Wuyi region of Guangdong. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, he traveled far across the ocean and went to the United States to do business, which lasted for three generations. . Lu Zhihe's father, Lu Jinquan, experienced many years of wandering and felt deeply the pain of being in a foreign land, so he decided to return to his hometown to do business. In 1929, Lui Che-woo was born in Jiangmen, China.
However, Lui Che-woo, who was born into such a wealthy family, did not have an easy life in his early years. When Japan invaded China in 1937, 8-year-old Lui Che-woo fled to Hong Kong with his father. He dropped out of middle school and went overseas to assist his father in the garment factory and food wholesale business.
Lui Che-woo, who was only 13 years old at the time, showed his business talent early. His "Egg Ponyboy" made with rice noodles was very popular in Hong Kong, which was in short supply at the time. Within three years, he earned millions of Japanese military tickets , but these military tickets became worthless because of the defeat of the Japanese army. After experiencing setbacks, Lui Che-woo was not discouraged. When the food industry was not profitable, he turned to study auto repair with his uncle. He also worked as a wholesaler of auto parts in Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mong Kok, accumulating initial capital.
From "Quarry King" to "Hotel Tycoon"
Lui Che Woo's true "first pot of gold" came from his international trade career after the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. At that time, the US military had a large surplus of supplies, and Hong Kong's construction industry was in urgent need of development. Lui Che-woo keenly discovered business opportunities and promptly went to Okinawa to contact US military officials to purchase supplies. Against the background of a general shortage of machinery and supplies in Hong Kong's construction industry at that time, his business was very popular. Taking this opportunity, Lui Che-woo not only accumulated a lot of wealth, but also made a group of wealthy friends, including Fok Ying-tung, later president of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. In 1955, Jiahua Company also came into being.
As tall buildings were built one after another, Lui Che-woo understood that relying on surplus materials to make money was not a long-term solution. Providing raw materials in response to market demand was the best solution. In 1964, K. Wah Company invested HK$160 million to establish the first company in Hong Kong to obtain a mining license. Due to his outstanding economic benefits, Lui Che-woo also won the reputation of "King of Stone Mines".
With the quarry business as a foundation, Lui Che-woo took advantage of Hong Kong's economic prosperity in the 1960s and began to enter the hotel, building materials and real estate industries. In the late 1970s, Hong Kong was promoting the sale of reclaimed land in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Lui Che-woo seized the business opportunity and spent NT$300 million to buy the land and built the Harbor View Holiday Hotel (now the Harbor View Jiafu Hotel), becoming one of the first hotels to enter Tsim Sha Tsui East. One of the five star hotels.
Lui Che-woo's judgment was correct. His hotel caught up with the rapid development of Hong Kong tourism in the 1980s and made huge profits. By the early 1990s, the hotel's market value had exceeded HK$1 billion. Since then, K. Wah Group has begun to vigorously expand overseas markets. Hotels have opened in San Francisco, Phoenix, Singapore and Malaysia. In 1996, Lui Che-woo ranked first on the Hong Kong billionaire list with assets of HK$15 billion. Tens.
took the opportunity to enter the Macau gambling industry
If the "hotel tycoon" Lui Che-woo has created a history of fortune that cannot be repeated, then his entry into the Macau gambling industry has once again made people marvel at his business Sensitive sense of smell. In 2002, in order to break Stanley Ho's 40-year monopoly in the Macau gaming industry, the Macau government decided to open up casino operating rights.Lui Che-woo seized the opportunity and cooperated with the Las Vegas Sands Group in the United States, successfully winning one of the three government gambling licenses.
In 2005, Galaxy Entertainment Group Co., Ltd., formerly known as K. Wah Building Materials, became the first licensed gaming operator to go public. Since then, Galaxy Entertainment has continued to grow and develop, and even showed amazing explosive power after the 2008 financial tsunami. Its performance grew rapidly and its stock price surged. During 2013, Galaxy Entertainment's share price soared from HK$30.35 at the end of 2012 to HK$69.55 at the end of 2013, a year-on-year increase of 129%; and this year, Lui Che-woo was promoted to the second richest man in Asia.
Regarding the gaming industry, which is widely considered to be a mixed bag, Lui Che-woo also has a unique philosophy. In an interview with Southern People Weekly, Lui Che-woo mentioned: "In the past, (the whole) family did not go to casinos. (But we) expanded our business scope and provided food, shopping, entertainment and performances. In all these aspects, we It’s all satisfying, not just gambling. So now many ordinary families come to travel.”
As a world-class rich man, Lui Che-woo is equally enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings. Over the past two decades, Lui Che-woo has donated funds to many schools, including Peking University, Fudan University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to support education. On September 24, 2015, Lui Che Woo announced the establishment of the global " Lui Che Woo Award - World Civilization Award" to commend people or groups who have made extraordinary contributions to world civilization. Each winner will receive a bonus of HK$20 million (approximately 16.462 million yuan), which is more than twice the amount of the Nobel Prize.
