Was he worried that the mistimed Las Vegas debacle would destroy his company? "I don't want to answer that." (Some estimate that he lost more than $3 billion in the financial crisis, and plenty were writing his business obituary.) He will, however, share the biggest lesson he learned from that dark period. That included writedowns on investments in Fontainebleau Resorts, Station Casinos, Harrah's, Gateway and Cannery Casino Resorts, as well as an ambitious but abandoned plan to build Crown Las Vegas. "I lost a bunch of money in America because of the financial crisis," he says, adding that impairment charges totaled $1.4 billion. It's a remarkable turnaround from five years ago, after Packer had invested in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania and Canada. "I've now got more of my money in China than anywhere else, more probably than in Australia." "We put $750 million into Macau, and it's now worth $8 billion," says Packer during a telephone interview from Los Angeles.
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After Crown released the annual results in August, analysts scrambled to upgrade their earnings forecasts on estimates that the Melco joint venture will contribute 40% to 50% of Crown's profit for fiscal year 2015. Melco contributed more than a third of Crown's net profit of $407 million for the year ended last June. Japan, too, is on the agenda, if casinos are legalized before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It is Melco-which last year joined FORBES ASIA's Fab 50 list of the top Asia-Pacific companies-that has taken Packer into Macau and Manila. Those gains boosted FORBES ASIA's estimate of his wealth by 10%, to $6.6 billion, this year, making him once again Australia's third-richest person.Īs Packer points out, what has the market excited is Crown's 33.7% stake in Melco Crown Entertainment, a joint venture run by Lawrence Ho, the son of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho. Packer's private company, Consolidated Press Holdings, owns 50.01% of Crown, so half of that cash splash?and the stock price gains?are on Packer's personal ledger. Crown's market capitalization now tops $11 billion, up $3 billion in one year. "That's a hell of a lot of money they're huge bets for me," says Packer of the dollars he's spending in Australia alone. And in Perth, conveniently close to much of Asia, a $1.3 billion expansion is under way for Burswood casino, now renamed Crown Perth. As the chairman and major shareholder of Crown Resorts, he's overseen a seven-year, $1.3 billion makeover of Crown's flagship casino, which spreads across two city blocks on the banks of Melbourne's Yarra River. In his hometown of Sydney final government approval came through in November for a controversial $1.8 billion casino resort on the harbor, targeting Asian high rollers and due to open in 2019. (See our list of Australia's 50 Richest.) And in the global gambling capital of Macau, his third casino is on track to open in mid-2015, and he's now adding a fifth tower to the already massive casino resort, City of Dreams. In the Philippines his City of Dreams Manila will open later this year. In Sri Lanka he won government approval in December to build a five-star casino resort in Colombo. It won.Over the next few years Packer, 46, is making his biggest bet yet, gambling much of his fortune on Asia's burgeoning casino sector. And Packer had just one bet: $100,000 to $10,000 each way on Koala King. One night in 1980, at the Harold Park trots, Robbie Waterhouse told Packer he was welcome to bet with him. (David says Packer offered to pay $200,000 and later settled up with Bill's then partners, his brother Jack and nephew John.) He asked Packer to pay up, but Bill says he never did. Nevertheless, Bill writes he was ''furious'' with Packer for taking advantage of the two ''inexperienced people'' he had left in charge. ''He said, 'You c-! You f-in' idiot! You f-in' fool!' He went in this tirade.'' Packer had lost $1,007,250 in one day - all in illegal bets pledged over the phone.ĭavid says he expected a ''hero's reception'' from his father for his big win, but Bill was livid. ' He said: 'Yes, I understand that.' So I said, 'If one horse wins, it's null-and-void the second bet.
''I said to Mr Packer, 'I want it on the condition that if one of these horses wins, the second bet's not on. ''The way he said 150, it was like a $1.50,'' David recalls.
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