The Galaxy Resort located in the Cotai District of Macau, photographed by the author | Editor by Wang Weikai | Produced by Wen Shijun | Prism·Tencent Xiaoman Studio In the Galaxy Resort in Macau, there is a huge "diamond" in the center of the lobby....

Located in the Galaxy Resort in Cotai District, Macau, photographed by the author

This is the world's largest man-made diamond, with a diameter of over 20 meters and a weight of 3.5 tons. It is composed of 380,000 crystals and cost as much as 1.85 billion yuan. It is called the "Silver Diamond for Fortune". Along with the Eiffel Tower and the Wynn Palace Musical Fountain, it is one of the most popular attractions for tourists in the Cotai area of ​​Macau.

Some people who have lost money in the casino will also stop here and take photos, hoping to "transfer money".

Today, this diamond has lost its creator - Dr. Lui Che-woo, founder of Galaxy Entertainment.

On November 7, Lui Che-woo passed away peacefully at the age of 95. According to the obituary announcement of Lui Che-woo's Funeral Committee, Lui Che-woo is scheduled to be buried at the Hong Kong Funeral Home at 4:00 pm on December 4, and a public funeral will be held at 8:30 am on December 5 the next day. The funeral will be held at 11:00 am, and the funeral will be held at noon. Interment in Chai Wan Hong Kong Buddhist Cemetery. He has many labels, including Hong Kong's well-known industrialist, philanthropist and social activist, but he is best known as Macau's fourth "gambling king". The reason why the term "fourth generation" is not used is because he is only 8 years younger than "Gambling King" Stanley Ho and is a contemporary.

Lui Che-woo's ancestral home is Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province. In 1934, he moved to Hong Kong with his family to escape the war. In 1955, he founded the K. Wah Group and entered the building materials, real estate, hotels, tourism and other industries. He was known as the "King of Stone Mines" and "King of Hotels".

In 2002, Macau opened up gambling rights. 73-year-old Lui Che-woo and his Galaxy Entertainment defeated 18 of the world's top entertainment companies and obtained one of the three "gambling cards."

To the surprise of many, Lui Che-woo, who had almost no experience in the gaming industry, quickly built Galaxy Entertainment into one of the two most profitable gaming companies in Macau. On the streets of Macau, there is also a saying that it only took 10 years for Lui Che and to surpass the wealth created by "Gambling King" Stanley Ho in his lifetime.

But in the gaming industry, he is a "latecomer" after all. Lui Che-woo is much more low-key than Stanley Ho.

The passing away of two "gambling kings" has left Macau, a city famous for gambling, without a "gambling king" anymore.

If you have never been to Macau, or have been there less, then your impression of Macau is likely to still be based on the new and old Lisboa.

Macau’s landmark building, the Old Lisboa Casino, photographed by the author

The Old Lisboa built in 1970 and the New Lisboa built in 2007 are both located on the Macau Peninsula, separated by a road. As important landmarks in Macau, these two casinos often appear in domestic and foreign movies. They are also a must-visit and photo-taking destination for many tourists when they first come to Macau.

“During the holidays, the crowds at the entrance of the Grand Lisboa can’t be crowded, and tourists sit on the ground outside the casino. This is a scene rarely seen in other casinos.” A Macau local lamented to the author.

The old and new Lisboas are both masterpieces of gambling king Stanley Ho. These two buildings have witnessed the ups and downs of Macau’s gaming industry for more than 50 years. The Old Lisboa, in particular, plays a vital role in the Macau gaming industry.

“Some people divide Macau’s gaming industry into the pre-Lisboa era, the Lisboa era and the post-Lisboa era.The watershed between the first two eras was the completion of the Lisboa Casino, and the watershed between the latter two eras was the liberalization of gambling rights in 2002, when the six major gaming companies fought against each other. "The above-mentioned Macau local analyzed that he had worked in many casinos.

In the pre-Lisboa era, Macau's gaming industry developed slowly and was relatively chaotic. Casinos, brothels, and opium dens were often integrated into one. In 1961, Hong Kong-funded Fok Ying-tung , Stanley Ho, Ye Han and others formed a consortium and won the gambling rights, starting a 41-year monopoly. The Lisboa Casino built during this period was regarded as the beginning of the rapid and standardized development of Macau's gaming industry.

At the same time, Lisboa Casinos have also cultivated a large number of talents in the gaming industry. Today, many managers of casinos such as Wynn, Sands, and MGM are from Lisboa Casino. Gao, in August 2001, the Macau Legislative Assembly passed the Casino Lucky Betting Business Law "Legal System" breaks the monopoly on gambling rights. Macau will issue three "gambling licenses", which makes powerful financial groups from all over the world look at it.

Among them, the most powerful ones are the forces in Las Vegas, such as " Stephen Wynn, the founder of Wynn Resorts Group, who is known as the "Father of Casino", was a former American Sheldon Adelson, the top five richest man and chairman of Sands Group, etc.

In addition, Hong Kong real estate tycoons Cheng Yutong , Liu Luanxiong , Gong Nina , etc., and Malaysian gambling king Lin Wutong also joined the bidding.

Compared with these people, Lui Che-woo had no financial advantage at that time. More importantly, the Lui Che-woo family had almost no gambling experience.

When bidding for gambling licenses, the Lui Che-woo family chose to go with the "Gambler Saint". "leaf Han's son Ye Weizhou cooperated to form Galaxy Entertainment Company

Ye Han was a legend in Macau in the 20th century. In 1961, when Stanley Ho and others won the gambling rights, Ye Han was also an important participant and was known for his superb gambling skills. Served as the general manager of Macau Entertainment Company (the predecessor of "SJM"). 4

However, Stanley Ho and Ye Han later turned against each other and parted ways. At the age of 84, Ye Han no longer participated in casino operations, but began a "gamble" career. He traveled to major casinos in Macau and Las Vegas (except Stanley Ho's Casino), spends lavishly, often stays up for more than ten hours, and always wins money.

In 1997, 92-year-old Ye Han passed away. Stanley Ho went to express his condolences. In the eyes of many people, the grievances between the two were wiped out.

The collaboration between Ye Han’s son Ye Weizhou and Lui Che-woo attracted attention. However, it was not Ip Wai Chau who made Lui Che Woo stand out in the end, but Sheldon Adelson of Sands Group.

At that time, Sheldon Adelson suddenly chose to cooperate with Lui Che-woo and bought shares in Galaxy Entertainment Company in a blitzkrieg manner. This greatly increased their strength and became a company with a foreign investment background, gaming experience, and hotels. A super aircraft carrier with operating experience, which is very in line with the Macau government’s expectations for new entrants, and won a gambling license in one fell swoop.

The other two gambling cards were won by Stanley Ho's Macau Gaming Company and Stephen Wynn's Wynn Macau.

"If you pay a little attention, you will find that the names of the six major casinos in Macau are all exotic, and only Galaxy It’s a pure Chinese style.” A Galaxy publicist told the author, “Lisboa in English is Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Sands, Wynn, and MGM are foreign brands, and Melco International is also a joint venture with an Australian consortium. ”

The “public relations” here is different from the public relations in the mainland. The public relations in Macau mainly connects and serves gamblers.

In Macau nowadays, the number of gambling cards has changed from 3 to 6.At the end of 2002, after they jointly obtained a gambling license, Galaxy and Sands had differences in business philosophy before their cooperation could begin. Sheldon Adelson hopes to copy the Las Vegas model, but Lui Che-woo insists on creating a new model that is Chinese, unique to Macau, and focuses on Asian characteristics.

Later, the Macau government split Galaxy's gambling license into two, and Sands gained the power to operate the casino independently. SJM and Wynn followed suit and split their gambling licenses to MGM China and Melco International respectively. After

parted ways with Sands, Galaxy once again became that company with no gaming experience, which made many people not optimistic about Galaxy's prospects. While Sands and Wynn have begun investing heavily in casino construction, Galaxy is only cooperating with some hotels and does not have its own flagship casino. It is also difficult for these hotels and casinos to match the scale of their opponents.

Especially the Sands Entertainment City, which opened in May 2004, shocked the entire gaming industry in Macau and soon became the world's largest casino. As a result, a new word appeared in Macau - "Sands Effect".

The rapid rise of Sands has also led them to start a hand-to-hand battle with SJM. Sands not only poached many talents from SJM with high salaries, but also took away a lot of SJM’s VIP room business by increasing their “code pay”. Fang's two gambling tycoons Stanley Ho and Sheldon Adelson also engaged in a "war of words."

It was not until October 2006 that Galaxy Entertainment's flagship casino StarWorld Casino, which invested 3 billion yuan, officially opened.

However, this building, the tallest building in Macau at the time, was welcomed as soon as it opened. In 2007, thanks to the opening of StarWorld Casino, Galaxy Entertainment's annual revenue soared by 179%, and it completely established a foothold in Macau.

In the first few years before the opening of gambling rights, the main battlefield of the melee between the six major casinos was always on the Macau Peninsula. Especially for SJM, Stanley Ho regards the Macau Peninsula as his base. According to reports, from 2002 to 2008, SJM invested almost all its funds in the Macau Peninsula. Sands, Wynn, Galaxy, etc. also surround the Old Lisboa and build hotels and casinos nearby.

Galaxy has early set its sights on the Cotai area, which is still a shoal. In 2002, Lui Che-woo acquired the largest piece of land in Cotai at a very low price. Many people at the time did not expect that 10 years later, Cotai would become the absolute core of Macau’s gaming industry.

Many people interviewed by the author said that the reason why Galaxy has such a strategic vision is related to their engagement in the real estate business and knowing the value of land. Several other gaming companies do not have such experience.

On May 15, 2011, Galaxy Resort officially opened, becoming the first comprehensive resort in Cotai. However, SJM’s Lisboa Resort will not open until 2021. It is worth noting that to this day, Galaxy’s land in Cotai has not been fully developed, and the fourth phase is still under development. This also makes Galaxy’s performance full of imagination.

"The reason why the Galaxy Resort in Cotai District was able to open its doors first is also related to their superb financial skills." An investor who has been paying attention to gaming stocks all year round analyzed to the author.

Galaxy Entertainment is the first listed gaming company in Macau. In July 2005, they borrowed K. Wah Building Materials to be listed in Hong Kong, and then raised funds multiple times in 2005, 2006, and 2007, with a financing scale of approximately HK$15 billion.

These capital operations not only allowed them to invest more money in resort projects, but also allowed them to withstand the 2008 financial tsunami. At that time, some of the resort projects of Sands, Wynn and other companies in the Cotai area were borrowing money, and some were suspended for a long time. However, the Galaxy Resort was delayed by only one year and successfully opened.

After the liberalization of gambling rights, Macau's gaming industry has an important watershed - the imprisonment of Suncity owner Zhou Zhuohua in 2021. Suncity is Macau's largest VIP room operator .

In 2006, the gross revenue of Macau’s gaming industry surpassed that of Las Vegas for the first time. It was not until the epidemic that Las Vegas briefly overtook Macau. It is a recognized fact that the rapid development of Macau's gaming industry is due to the high gambling in VIP rooms.

As a new entrant, Galaxy Entertainment focused its business on VIP rooms from the beginning. They also specially formulated the "city club" business philosophy.

In July 2004, Galaxy Entertainment's first casino, Huadu Casino, opened. The Huadu Hotel is only a three-star hotel, and the casino is not that big. However, when it first opened, its market share even exceeded that of the huge Sands. The important reason is the operation of the VIP room. Huadu Casino has 8 VIP rooms.

The Star Casino that opened later also focused on VIP rooms. In the first half of 2007, the gaming revenue of the VIP room of StarWorld Hotel reached HK$2.628 billion, while the gaming revenue of the mass market was only HK$819 million.

"The Macau gaming market increased by 44% in the fourth quarter of 2006 compared with the fourth quarter of 2005, of which the mass market increased by 15% and the VIP market increased by 65%, proving that StarWorld Hotel and Casino's operational strategy of focusing on developing the VIP market is quite consistent. Success." Galaxy Entertainment once wrote in a press release.

Until a year before the epidemic, VIP room revenue still accounted for half of Galaxy Entertainment’s total revenue.

The financial report shows that from 2017 to 2019, VIP rooms accounted for 55.5%, 56.8% and 46.5% of Galaxy Entertainment’s total gaming revenue.

However, VIP rooms have always been controversial due to illegal activities such as table gambling, money laundering, and loan sharking. At the same time, due to factors such as the anti-corruption in the mainland, the development speed of the VIP room business has begun to slow down. In 2019, data from the Macau Gaming Inspection Bureau showed that the market revenue of mass market and slot machines exceeded that of VIP halls for the first time, accounting for 54%.

In fact, the gross profit margin of the midfield is much higher than that of the VIP room, but it is not taken seriously because of the small betting amount. Sands China mentioned in its 2012 financial report that the gross profit margin of the mass market was four times higher than that of the VIP room.

Today, the six major gaming companies have focused their business on midfield operations. Judging from financial report data, Sands China has the largest mass market revenue, followed by Galaxy Entertainment. Compared with other gambling companies, Galaxy's midfielder has another significant feature, which is that it is difficult for gamblers to win money.

"For us, Galaxy is actually not very friendly. The 'murderers' kill very hard, and it is too difficult to win money there." An anonymous gambler who often goes to Galaxy lamented to the author.

The midfield is generally located on the first and second floors of the casino. It is the busiest place in the casino where gamblers gather. Among the big 6 bookmakers, the midfield net win rate or non-rolling chip net win rate tends to be related to punters playing in the midfield. The higher the midfield net win rate or the non-rolling chip net win rate, it means that the probability of the casino winning is greater and the probability of the gambler winning is smaller.

Galaxy Entertainment's mass net win rate is as high as 26.4%, Wynn Macau's mass table win rate is 23.9%, Sands China's Londoner's non-rolling chip win rate is 21.9%, Parisian's 19.6%, and Sands Macau's more is as low as 16.8%.

"Many local old gamblers are willing to go to Ponte 16 Casino because they think it is easy to win money in this casino." The above-mentioned gambler told the author.

Ponte 16 is a "satellite casino" owned by SJM. It is an old casino located on the Macau Peninsula. The casino still retains the tradition of "pumping" the gaming tables, but this is no longer the case in other slightly newer casinos. tradition, replaced by the "Lucky 6" gameplay.

SJM’s financial report shows that in the third quarter of this year, the non-transcoding winning percentage of casinos including Jai Alai and Ponte 16 was 15.4%. Relatively speaking, the figure for Grand Lisboa was 21.8%. Lisboa’s is 17.8%.

"If you look at the winning rate of the gambling table with the mentality of a gambler, it will be difficult to see through the profitability of the casino." The aforementioned person who pays attention to gaming stocks analyzed the author, "I regard the gambling table as a commodity. If the winning rate is high and there are still people playing, just say It shows that it is competitive and someone is willing to pay.”

In this person’s opinion, there are many factors that affect the midfield betting amount and winning rate, such as atmosphere, environment, service, and even the design of the chips. He believes that Galaxy is in these. We need to do better.

In Macau today, 3 of the 6 licenses still belong to the Stanley Ho family, but the only recognized "gambling king" is Lui Che-woo. This is because Galaxy's performance is better.

Currently, Sands China is the most profitable gaming company in Macau. In the first half of this year, its net income was HK$27.73 billion, followed by Galaxy Entertainment with a net income of HK$21.47 billion. SJM, MGM China and Melco International had a net income of HK$21.47 billion. Revenues were 13.8 billion, 16.2 billion and 17.77 billion respectively, while Wynn Macau’s was 14.73 billion.

In fact, when Stanley Ho was still alive, some media called Lui Che-woo the "King of Gambling." However, Lui Che-woo, who has always been low-key, has always refused this title and stated on many occasions that the gambling king will always be "Brother Shen".

At the beginning of 2014, Lui Che-woo briefly became the "richest man in Asia" and attracted much attention. Prior to that, Li Ka-shing had dominated the list for more than ten years. At that time, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index stated that Lui Che-woo was worth US$29.54 billion, narrowly surpassing Li Ka-shing, who was worth US$29.4 billion, and became Asia's richest man.

A few hours later, Bloomberg issued a correction, saying that one of the calculations was wrong. Lui Che-woo was not worth more than Li Ka-shing, ranking second. Lui Che-woo was also jokingly called by the media "the richest man for half a day."

Later, in an interview, Lui Che-woo said lightly about the ranking: "For me, it is useless. The rankings are big and small, first and second. I have always been normal since I was a child."

A normal mind is an important comment made by many media on Lui Che-woo. "The Biography of Lui Che-woo" written by Bi Yajun is the only authorized biography of Lui Che-woo. In this biography, Bi Yajun also commented: "Strive to be first but not afraid of being second. Seek to advance but know where to stop. Focus on doing your own thing well." , is the value foundation for Lui Che-woo to always maintain a calm mind in the brutal competition.”.

In the history of gambling in Macau, there are four recognized gambling kings. The first is Lu Jiu, the second is Fu Laorong. They were active in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. The third one, Stanley Ho, monopolized the Macau gambling industry for 41 years. Lui Che-woo is known as the "Gambling King" because of his personal wealth.

Compared with the first three gambling kings, Lui Che-woo has much less charlatanism and legendary nature, but he has a characteristic that the other three do not have, which is his investment in charity.

As early as the early 1980s, Lui Che-woo served as the chairman of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the oldest and largest charity organization in Hong Kong. After that, he continued to make donations and buildings for education for a long time. Many well-known universities at home and abroad have buildings donated by him. In 1987, he also donated 3 million yuan to help establish Wuyi University in his hometown of Jiangmen.

In 2015, he founded the "Lui Che Woo Prize - World Civilization Award", which is awarded in three categories every year, the Sustainable Development Award, the Human Welfare Award and the Positive Energy Award. The winner will receive a reward of 20 million Hong Kong dollars. Yuan Longping is the first Winner of the Sustainability Award.

Lui Che-woo received Hong Kong’s highest honor, the Grand Bauhinia Medal, in 2012. The award speech read: “Long-term participation in social and charitable services and outstanding performance."

Now that Lui Che-woo has passed away, the topic of who is the new gambling king of Macau has been discussed again. Some people think it is Lui Che-woo's eldest son Lui Yiu-dong. He currently serves as the vice chairman of Galaxy Entertainment and is involved in building materials, He has rich experience in the hotel and real estate fields. "Lui Che-woo's Biography" said that he is the actual operator of Galaxy Entertainment.

Lui Che-woo has three sons and two daughters, and each of them can be independent. In 2012, Lui Che-woo publicly stated that the distribution of the family property had been completed, and Lui Yaodong was in charge of the gaming business.

Some people said that He Chaoqiong would become the new gambling king. She is the head of MGM China. She is known as the most capable daughter of the "Gambling King", but more people are willing to call her the "Goddess of Macau". MGM China's performance is not as good as that of Galaxy and Sands

"There will be no more gambling in Macau. King. The above-mentioned locals who work in many casinos in Macau lamented to the author, "Macau is now building a world leisure center. Gaming companies also promote non-gaming businesses such as tourism, hotels, exhibitions, concerts, and consumption. No one wants to label themselves just a 'gambler'. ”

In fact, in Galaxy’s financial reports in recent years, the word “gambling” is rarely seen.