About - IAG Power 50

The countdown to the 2022 IAG Asian Gaming Power 50 Gala Dinner is on!

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About

Anxiously awaited each year, the Asian Gaming Power 50 is Inside Asian Gaming’s annual list of the 50 most powerful and influential people in the Asian gaming industry.

The inaugural "Big 50" - as we like to call it - took place in 2008. Each year, on the first Friday in November, we celebrate the Asian Gaming Power 50 with a lavish Black Tie Gala Dinner in a major ballroom or Theater of a luxurious integrated resort in Macau, China. The venue rotates between Macau's six integrated resort companies: Galaxy, Melco, MGM, Sands, SJM and Wynn.

It’s worth noting that only four people have sat atop the “Big 50”:

2008	Dr Stanley Ho
2009	Tan Sri KT Lim
2010, 2013 to 2018	Mr Sheldon Adelson
2011 to 2012, 2019, 2020	Mr Francis Lui

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The Power 50 ranking methodology was completely overhauled in 2016, with a numerical “Power Score” introduced for each contender in an effort to be more scientific and objective. This proved to be a fair and popular method that continues to this day.

Since 2008 the Asian Gaming Power 50 has become the definitive list of the industry’s most important people. As such the “Big 50” selection panel plays a vital role in the industry and has a responsibility to simply get it right.

The selection process

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The Selection Process

Power Score points arise from a number of factors including the GGR of the person’s organization (or a surrogate comparative measure if necessary), a weighted “carving up” of those points between the top senior executives with key policy control of that organization, adjustments for whether the person is hired or has a major equity position, their length of tenure, how active in business initiatives the person has been in the prior 12 months, the long-term gaming pedigree of the person, the jurisdiction in which he or she operates and many more.

Some factors are necessarily subjective, but the panel always assigns a points value in an attempt to be objective. It does this without any predetermined idea of where any person should or should not be ranked.

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Frequently asked questions

What countries count as Asia?

How do you pick between the owner/CEO and the COO of a company?

How important is a person’s past achievements?

As west as India, as south as New Zealand, as east as Saipan and as north as Mongolia.

What about non-operators who have a strong voice in the industry, like regulators, media commentators, analysts, academics, suppliers, consultants, gaming lawyers and so on?

The selection panel has looked at the power wielded by all of those in the past, but after careful consideration concluded that it was impossible to include regulators (PAGCOR’s Andrea Domingo’s position on the list in recent years is purely as an operator, not a regulator) and after considering the power of people in all the other categories it was only direct operators who made it into the top 50.

Many gaming companies have a charismatic and entrepreneurial owner/CEO and a perhaps more seasoned and level-headed gaming professional in charge as President and/or COO. By default, being an owner necessarily ranks many more Power Score points. After all, the owner can always force an appointed COO out of his job. But in some cases a hired COO can be even more powerful than their “boss” when the owner delegates a very large proportion of decision making responsibility. The answer is decided on a case by case basis.

The Power 50 list is not a place for people to rest on their laurels. While there are some points awarded for company longevity and/or executive tenure, the list predominantly focuses on the activities of the prior 12 months. It’s all about “what are you doing now?” and “what have you done lately?” not “what have you done in the last 15 years?”

As such the Power 50 list is very dynamic as people move up, and down, and on, for a multitude of reasons.

Tap questions to reveal answers.