Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | February 2014 28 FEATURE G alaxy Entertainment Group Chairman Lui Che Woo has set his sights on casino acquisitions in the US and is looking to invest in a big way on Hengqin Island as he maps his gaming empire’s expansion beyond Macau. The 84-year-old construction magnate, reputed to be the richest person in Asia after Hong Kong property tycoon Li Ka Shing, has about US$10 billion on the table in Macau, where the company’s flagship, the 2,000- room Galaxy Macau on Cotai, is expanding with $2.5 billion worth of new hotel and gaming space and non-gaming attractions slated to open next year. Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs Mr Lui’s net worth at US$23 billion, anchored by his family’s 51% stake in GEG, whose Hong Kong-listed stock more than doubled in price last year. The company’s Cotai land bank is the largest in the market at an estimated 2 million square meters, which would permit a quadrupling of the size of Galaxy Macau by 2018; more than $7 billion has been earmarked for that purpose. Looking across Cotai at neighboring Hengqin, Mr Lui told Bloomberg News he Eyes on the Prize Galaxy’s founder talks global expansion Looking across Cotai at neighboring Hengqin, Mr Lui told Bloomberg News he might plow upwards of $1.3 billion into non-gaming hotels and sports-related facilities there. Lui Che Woo at 84: “We don’t miss out on great opportunities.”