Chen Lip Keong Bets on Russia

Despite the coronavirus outbreak taking a toll on gaming, Chen Lip Keong is trying his luck in Russia: his NagaCorp is building a $300 million casino-hotel outside Vladivostok, due to open in 2021. “I like the entrepreneurial spirit behind the development,” Chen says. Booming growth at his Cambodian casino complex helped push Chen’s net worth up 6% to $5.3 billion, now at No. 4 on our list. NagaCorp’s share price has nearly doubled since November 2017 when the Naga2 extension opened in Phnom Penh.

Chen, 72, has used the monopoly license he won in 1994 to ride Cambodia’s economic reemergence from decades of war and, more recently, a wave of investment and tourism from China into Cambodia. In 2006, NagaCorp became the first casino operator—and the first Cambodia-based company—to list in Hong Kong; today it has an annual revenue of almost $1.8 billion, up 19% last year, and a market capitalization of HK$48 billion ($6.2 billion).

A former doctor, Chen got a sweet deal in 1994: a 70-year license that includes a gaming monopoly in Phnom Penh and the surrounding 200 kilometers that was recently extended to 2045, and special tax breaks. “Dr. Chen was in the right place at the right time,” says Michael Zhu, senior vice president at U.S. gaming consultancy The Innovation Group Artist rendering of NagaWorld Vladivostok.

From his first casino on a river barge, Chen built NagaWorld into a major resort, becoming a billionaire. He then invested $369 million to build Naga2. Now he’s building the $3.5 billion Naga3, slated to open in 2025, with 3,500 rooms plus convention and entertainment facilities. This latest extension will be linked to the current complex underground, similar to the NagaCity Walk retail corridor linking NagaWorld and Naga2. “Naga3 may sound ambitious and at first blush appears outsized, but this company understands the dynamics of the market,” says Klebanow Consulting’s Andrew Klebanow, who is based in Las Vegas.

Chen says his Russian project represents as big an opportunity as he found in Cambodia when he launched Naga in 1994. “The entry costs should not weaken our ability to travel a long journey ahead to see success,” says Chen.