Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Many know Genting, Malaysia, as a legal entertainment and gambling area in neighboring states. However, it seems that not many people know Lim Kok Thay, businessman casino in Genting Highlands, who succeeded in becoming one of the richest man in the world through the ‘maysir’ business which is forbidden in the sharia economic system.
Quotes forbes.com, Thursday (4/11), Lim’s wealth touched US $ 2.8 billion or equivalent to Rp. 40.6 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,500 per US dollar). With such a thick wallet, Lim is lined up as the 11th richest person in Malaysia or is on the order of 1,174 richest people in the world.
What’s the story like?
Lim is the second son of the late Lim Goh Tong, founder of Genting Highlands, Malaysia. Lim is known as a gambling king of Chinese descent.
The man who was born on August 16, 1951, continues to manage the gambling resort, which his father left in October 2007. However, he has served as director of Genting since 1976, when his father was still alive.
When his father retired in December 2003, Lim had already been appointed CEO of Genting. Since then, Lim has continued to expand through Genting, especially in the tourism and entertainment industry, including gambling resorts.
Under Lim’s leadership, Genting developed recreational brands such as Resorts World, Maxims, Crockfords and Awana.
Genting is also a huge success after establishing partnerships with world-class leisure brands, including Universal Studios, Hard Rock Hotel, Premium Outlets, Synthetic Genomics, and many others.
In fact, Lim, through Genting, helped Mashantucket Pequots co-found the Foxwoods Resorts Casino in Connecticut, USA, covering an area of 340 thousand square meters, which at the same time made it the largest casino site in the US.
Not only that, in 2005, Lim expanded his casino business to the UK through Genting UK Plc and managed to become the largest casino operator in the United Kingdom.
On the other hand, he continued to expand with Resorts World Genting (formerly Highland Resort) and successfully brought his father’s startup business into the world’s leading resort from 2005-2010, and was named Asia’s leading casino resort in the same period.
In 2006, Lim made a splash with the first integrated resort on Sentosa Island, Singapore, known as Resorts World Sentosa. The resort opened in January 2010 and is a leading tourist destination in Singapore with its Universal Studios, hotels, including museums.
Currently, the Genting Group is integrated in three Asian countries through Resorts World Genting in Malaysia, Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, and Resorts World Manila in the Philippines. The presence of these resorts is claimed to have attracted millions of visitors.
Most recently, Lim also opened Resorts World Catskills through his parent company Empire Resorts Inc in New York, USA. The US$1.2 billion project offers entertainment venues, hotels and casinos which are Lim’s core business.
From Gambling to Palm Oil
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