26 Vincent Tan Chee Yioun

Chairman and CEO, Berjaya Group

A newly inaugurated member of the billionaire club, Vincent Tan amassed his riches supplying leisure pursuits such as golfing, resorts and gaming. Forbes magazine pegs Mr Tan’s net worth at RM4.2 billion (US$1.3 billion), which positions him at number nine on its Malaysian Rich List.

Mr Tan owns Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Group, which controls businesses in gaming and lotteries management and has substantial stakes in a wide array of other industries including telecommunications, broadcasting, utilities and internet-related companies. Berjaya’s Sports Toto Berhad is Malaysia’s sole national lotto operator.

The company’s current history dates back to 1984 when Mr Tan, who got his start as a McDonald’s franchisee, acquired a controlling stake in the share capital of Berjaya Kawat Berhad from Australia’s Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP) Ltd and Singapore’s National Iron & Steel Mills. Under Mr Tan’s leadership, his group’s annual revenue has grown to US$4 billion, according to Forbes. Shares of Berjaya Corp and Berjaya Land, which has big investments in Vietnam real estate, both jumped in the last year, driving up Mr Tan’s net worth.

Mr Tan hopes the Malaysian government will relax its gambling laws, allowing him to move into other areas of gaming. Although Malaysia has one of Asia’s largest and longest-running casinos at Genting Highlands, further expansion of gaming in the country will be difficult considering Malaysia has a Muslim majority and Islam forbids gambling.

27 Joe Pisano

Executive Director and Executive Vice President, Elixir Gaming Technologies Inc

Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc. (EGT) became focused on placing gaming machines on a revenue share model across Asia in September 2007. EGT offers its turnkey solutions to 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, cruise ships and other well-located venues throughout Asia seeking to open slot clubs at their properties. By January, EGT had announced contracts to place 5,530 machines across 33 venues in the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, and aboard two cruise ships.

EGT provides venue owners a wealth of experience in running a successful slot club. As Mr Pisano explained to Inside Asian Gaming: “They come to us and say: ‘We have a room this size, can you turn it into a slot club?’” Mr Pisano’s answer is a resounding yes.

Mr Pisano is a fount of information on gaming technology, with 30 years of experience in the field. He has also served as former head of Asia Pacific business development for IGT. EGT insists on having total control of the floor at the slot clubs it sets up, and in return, provides all the necessary support from licensing, design and construction, to machine and systems procurement and maintenance.

As the largest purchaser of slot machines in Asia outside Macau, EGT is able to demand preferential deals from leading slot machine manufacturers. Notably, IGT’s crowd-pulling Star Wars progressive slot machine made its Asian debut in February this year, not in one of Macau’s glitzy casino resorts, but at the new 240-machine PAGCOR Club Universal in Manila, developed by EGT.

28 Justin Leong Ming Loong

Head of Strategic Investments and Corporate Affairs, Genting Group

In an age of 24-hour news and globalised investment, a company’s success depends on its ability to present its public message to the world. Malaysia’s Genting Group has recognised this by appointing none other than the grandson of the Group’s founder as its corporate frontman.

Oxford University-educated Justin Leong is only 30, but in his role as Head of Strategic Investments and Corporate Affairs, he has already made a name for himself as a gaming executive with an eye for the big picture. He reportedly played a key role in the Group’s decision to effectively become the UK’s biggest casino operator by purchasing a controlling stake in Stanley Leisure in 2006.

Mr Leong is in a position to speak to the banking community in their own language and on their own terms, having started his career at Goldman Sachs in London where he was an analyst in the M&A division and an associate in global technology equity sales. Before that, he won a scholarship to study geography at Oxford.

Recently, Mr Leong has been described as a poster boy for Genting Group in particular and Asian business in general. At the 2006 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he was chosen as one of 200 Young Global Leaders. He’s also been nominated by Bursa Malaysia, the Malaysian stock exchange, as chairman of the Malaysian Investor Relations Association. In May this year he was featured on the front cover of Forbes magazine’s Asian edition. Expect to see Mr Leong scouting for fresh opportunities in Asia’s buoyant gaming market. Reports have also linked him with possible forays into North America if the right deal presents itself.

29 Subhash Chandra

Chairman, Essel Group

Subhash Chandra, a former rice trader-turned-mass media entrepreneur, founded Playwin, India’s first online gaming business. Mr Chandra is himself a natural gambler, having recently launched the Indian Cricket League, a Kerry Packer-style limited-overs competition, played at night under floodlights and attracting some of the world’s best players thanks to hefty pay cheques. Mr Chandra was ranked at 407 on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List in 2007 with a net worth estimated at US$2.3 billion.

Mr Chandra’s Playwin lottery brand offers a range of online lottery games delivered to customers via terminals at retail outlets or via their home computer. Since the service was launched in 2002, revenues have increased year-on-year from US$145 million to an estimated US$510 million in 2007-08. Playwin is part of an empire held by Mr Chandra’s Essel Group, which has interests in media, packaging, and real estate. Playwin is now reportedly the group’s biggest earner.

The great consumer appeal of the games, including Thunderball and Fast Lotto, is that as products in a fully automated system they are free from the kind of fraud traditionally associated with paper lotteries in India.