Katie Sola ,
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
We can’t recommend drinking, smoking and gambling as a path to fortune, but it worked for these billionaires.
Of the 1,810 individuals who made the 2016 Forbes list of the world’s richest people, 40 derive their wealth from the business of vice.
Half of them inherited their wealth. Taken as a group, the world’s billionaires are 65% self-made.
#38 (Tie) Nobutada Saji
2015 Getty Images
Net Worth: $1B
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Beverages
Nobutada Saji got rich from a non-alcoholic drinks and snacks company. But his company’s recent $16 billion acquisition of Jim Beam places him firmly in the vice billionaire category.
#38 (Tie) Huang Bingwen
© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $1B
Citizenship: Australia
Source of Wealth: Cigarette Packaging
One of three billionaires on this list whose wealth derives from the smoking industry, Bingwen made his fortune without touching a tobacco leaf. His company Shantou Dongfeng manufactures the paper packaging for cigarettes, and went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2012.
#38 (Tie) Ken Grossman
Bloomberg
Net worth: $1B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
Craft beer pioneer Ken Grossman founded Sierra Nevada brewery in 1978 when there were only 45 independent breweries in America. Sierra Nevada, which is famous for its pale ale, earned $300 million in revenues in 2015. Grossman, whose son runs a new brewery in North Carolina, is keenly aware of Sierra Nevada’s environmental impact.
#36 (Tie) Susanne Veltins
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Net worth: $1.1B
Citizenship: Germany
Source of Wealth: Beer
Susanne Veltins is a fifth-generation family member to head C. & A. Veltins brewery, which has operated from the same site in Grevenstein, Germany since 1824. According to a comprehensive Euromonitor report on the German beer industry, Veltins’ share of the German market was 3.2% in 2013. Annual revenues are estimated at close to $800 million.
#36 (Tie) Kazuo Okada
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Net worth: $1.1B
Citizenship: Japan
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Self-made casino and slot machine mogul Kazuo Okada chairs publicly-traded Universal Entertainment Corp., which manufactures and sells pachinko machines and casino equipment and manages casino hotels.
#35 Lawrence Ho
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance
Net worth: $1.2B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
A son of Macau gambling-industry legend Stanley Ho, he gets the bulk of his fortune from his stake in Hong Kong-listed holding company Melco International, the leisure and entertainment outfit he runs. Ho saw $800 million wiped off of his net worth over the course of a year, due to Macau’s plummeting fortunes.
#34 Elaine Wynn
2014 Getty Images
Net worth: $1.3B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Casinos, Hotels
Elaine Wynn co-founded and helped run Wynn Resorts alongside her ex-husband, Steve Wynn — earning her the nickname “Queen of Las Vegas.” In April 2015, though, she was stripped of her board seat, despite making a highly public case to stay on the board.
#33 Angela Leong
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $1.4B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Angela Leong, the fourth “wife” of Macau legend Stanley Ho (they never officially married), is the largest individual shareholder and the managing director of casino company SJM Holdings. An elected Macau legislator for the past 10 years, she also owns an impressive portfolio of Hong Kong properties.
#32 Lorenzo Mendoza
FEDERICO PARRA/AFP/Getty Images
Net worth: $1.5
Citizenship: Venezuela
Source of Wealth: Beverages
Lorenzo Mendoza runs Venezuela’s largest food company, Empresas Polar, which was founded by his grandfather. It produces and sells beer and basic food items including flour, condiments, tuna fish and wine. A long-time critic of deceased former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Mendoza continues to struggle with government policies under the new administration.
#31 Richard Yuengling
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Net worth: $1.7B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
Dick Yuengling is president of the beer maker that bears his family’s name, D.G. Yuengling & Son. One of America’s hottest independent brewing operations, Yuengling is the fourth-largest U.S. brewery, racking up an estimated $550 million in sales annually. Dick is currently sole owner and the fifth generation of his family to run the company.
#30 Cui Lijie
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $1.8B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Gambling
Cui Lijie, a long-time property investor in China, bought 75% of Hong Kong-listed First Natural Foods, now Imperial Pacific International Holdings, for $39 million in 2013. The company, linked to Macau junket promoter Hengsheng Group, then won the casino license in Saipan, a U.S. territory in the Pacific. In July 2015 it opened a 40-table, 100-gaming machine casino: phase one of a $7.1 billion development plan betting on Chinese tourists.
#28 (Tie) Yuri Shefler
2014 Invision
Net worth: $1.9B
Citizenship: Russia
Source of Wealth: Alcohol
Yuri Shefler owns S.P.I. Group, which produces and sells alcohol under 380 brands in 160 countries. Its best known brand is Stolichnaya vodka, which Shefler bought from state-owned VVO Soyuzplodoimport for $285,000 in 1997. Russia’s Supreme Court later ruled the sale illegal, and in 2014 Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium joined Russia in banning sales of Stolichnaya. For now, the troubles haven’t hurt business much, according to analysts.
#28 (Tie) John Coates
bet365
Net worth: $1.9B
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Source of Wealth: Online Gambling
John Coates is co-CEO of Bet365, one of the world’s largest online gambling companies, with $51.6 billion in bets placed in the year through March 2015. In 2001, his sister and co-CEO, Denise, convinced him to join her in launching Bet365 after she’d sold some of their father’s betting shops to bookmaker Coral. John owns a quarter of the company.
#27 Charles Bronfman
2016 Getty Images
Net worth: $2.3B
Citizenship: Canada
Source of Wealth: Liquor
Charles Bronfman is long removed from the 2000 deal in which he and brother Edgar Bronfman Sr. sold their family’s Seagram spirits empire to Vivendi for $34 billion. Since then he has turned much of his focus on philanthropy. He’s authored two books on the subject and signed Warren Buffett’s and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge, a commitment to devote the majority of his wealth to philanthropy.
#23 (Tie) Steve Wynn
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $2.4B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Casinos, Hotels
Casino magnate Steve Wynn made a fortune revitalizing the Las Vegas strip. Wynn is the man behind The Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas. He developed the first three through his first casino juggernaut, Mirage Resorts, which he was forced to sell to MGM in a hostile takeover in 2000. Two years later he launched Wynn Resorts. The publicly-traded company operates Wynn Las Vegas and also Wynn Macau.
#23 (Tie) Julio Mario Santo Domingo
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance
Net worth: $2.4B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
In 2005 jet-setting beer magnate swapped control of his Bavaria brewery for 15% of SABMiller, now worth $8 billion. Other holdings include stakes in Colombia’s biggest TV broadcaster Caracol, packaging maker Biofilm and forestry outfit Refocosta. Born into a rich family with interests in breweries, he took over management of its holdings in 1972 after his father retired.
#23 (Tie) Manuel Lao Hernandez
LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images
Net worth: $2.4B
Citizenship: Spain
Source of Wealth: Gambling
Manuel Lao Hernandez founded Cirsa, Spain’s largest casino company. He started the business in 1978 and today Cirsa hauls in $1.8 billion in revenue a year and operates in nine countries. His holding company Nortia Corporation owns 372 subsidiaries, employing 16,000 people in amusement arcades, hotels, bingo halls, slot machine manufacturers, on a private airline and on an operating farm. His three children all work for the family business.
#23 (Tie) Tatiana Casiraghi
2011 Getty Images
Net worth: $2.4B
Citizenship: Monaco
Source of Wealth: Beer
Billionaire heiress Tatiana Casiraghi joined Monaco’s royal family in 2013, after marrying Andrea Casiraghi, who is reportedly second in line to the throne. She knew great wealth long before her wedding: Her grandfather Julio Mario Santo Domingo had owned Colombian brewery Bavaria before trading it for 15% of SABMiller in 2005. Six years later he died, leaving one-sixth of his inheritance to Tatiana.
#21 (Tie) Carolus Nolet, Sr.
2015 Invision
Net worth: $2.6B
Citizenship: Netherlands
Source of Wealth: Ketel One Vodka
Carolus Nolet, Sr.’s family has been in the spirits business for more than three hundred years. In the late 17th century Joannes Nolet started a small distillery in Schiedam, Netherlands. Tenth-generation family member Carolus became chairman in 1979. In 2008 the Nolet family joined with beverage giant Diageo to form a joint venture to handle Ketel One vodka, a signature Nolet brand.
#21 (Tie) Walter Faria
TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP/Getty Images
Net worth: $2.6B
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Beer
Beer industry veteran Walter Faria bought Grupo Petropolis in 1998 and transformed it into one of Brazil’s largest beer-and-beverage companies. Petropolis, which employs more than 26,000 people, makes Itaipava beer, Brazil’s second-biggest seller. Founded in Petropolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the Petropolis Group is the second-largest brewery in Brazil and is the only large company in the sector with 100% Brazilian investment.
#19 (Tie) John Middleton
Net worth: $2.7B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Tobacco
John Middleton sold his family’s storied tobacco business to Philip Morris-parent Altria for $2.9 billion in 2007. The original family business, John Middleton Inc., was founded as a small retail tobacco shop in downtown Philadelphia in 1856 by his great-great-grandfather John Middleton. The company began manufacturing in the 1950s and, by the end of the decade, had shuttered its retail business to focus exclusively on making tobacco products.
#19 (Tie) Jean Pierre Cayard
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Net worth: $2.7B
Citizenship: France
Source of Wealth: Spirits
Jean-Pierre Cayard’s father founded spirits group La Martiniquaise in 1934 and quickly established links with major retailers to expand the company. Jean-Pierre joined in 1970 and turned it into the second-largest spirits group in France with a huge portfolio of international brands. In 2016, La Martiniquaise took over the distribution of Jose Cuervo tequila in France.
#18 Tilman Fertitta
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Net worth: $3B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Restaurants, Casinos
Fertitta learned the food business in Galveston, Texas, where he worked at his father’s seafood restaurant after school. A partner in the first Landry’s restaurant in 1980 , he bought a controlling interest in the company in 1986. Landry’s went public in 1993 but Fertitta took it private again 20 years later in a $1.4 billion deal. He also owns the Golden Nugget Casinos, Houston’s Kemah Boardwalk and the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio.
#16 (Tie) Teddy Sagi
playtech.com
Net worth: $3.3B
Citizenship: Israel
Source of Wealth: Gambling Software
Billionaire bachelor Teddy Sagi founded gambling software developer Playtech in 1999 and has built it into a nearly $500 million (sales) operation, which trades on London’s AIM stock exchange with a multi-billion dollar valuation. Sagi still owns a third of the company but sold off shares to help finance his other business ventures. In April he sold his 86% stake in online trading company TradeFX, the parent of markets.com, for $450 million.
#16 (Tie) Rosa Anna Magno Garavoglia
Copyright 2013 Bloomberg Finance LP, All Rights Reserved.
Net worth: $3.3B
Citizenship: Italy
Source of Wealth: Spirits
Media-shy Rosa Anna Magno Garavoglia and her two of her children control Gruppo Campari, one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage companies, with a portfolio of 50 brands in 190 countries. She inherited the shares from her late husband, Domenico, a long-time employee and former managing director at the company who in turn received them from an heir in the Campari family, Angiola Maria Migliavacca, in 1982.
#15 Pansy Ho
© 2014 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $3.4B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Pansy is one of gaming legend Stanley Ho’s 17 children.The co-chair of MGM China and managing director of property-and-transport outfit Shun Tak Holdings, Pansy Ho has seen her net worth tumble from a peak of $6.8 billion just 2 years ago. She’s counting on MGM China’s new $3.1 billion resort, which is slated to open in 2016, to stem the slide.
#14 Denise Coates
Newscom
Net worth: $3.8B
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Source of Wealth: Online Gambling
Denise Coates’ fortune jumped year as her online gambling firm, Bet365, saw net profits soar. Coates, who owns around half of the private company, is co-CEO with her billionaire brother, John. Coates started out working for her father, crunching numbers in his betting shops while still in school. Coates bought the domain Bet365.com in 2000 and launched the website in 2001. It’s now one of the world’s largest online gambling companies.
#13 Mark Scheinberg
2010 AFP
Net worth: $4.1B
Citizenship: Canada
Source of Wealth: Online Gambling
Mark Scheinberg made a fortune off of online poker. With his father, Isai Scheinberg, he built PokerStars into the world’s biggest online poker company. PokerStars’ parent, Rational Group, which also owned Full Tilt Poker, was sold for $4.9 billion in 2014 to Amaya, a publicly-traded Montreal company, in a deal that was backed by Blackstone’s GSO credit division.
#11 (Tie) Alejandro Santo Domingo
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $4.9B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
Alejandro Santo Domingo is the public face of the Santo Domingo family, heirs to the massive beer fortune built by Alejandro’s father Julio Mario (d. 2011). Julio Mario had owned Colombia’s Bavaria brewery but traded it in 2005 for a 15% stake of SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewery and the parent company to Miller Lite, Milwaukee’s Best, Leinenkugel’s and more than 100 other beer brands.
#11 (Tie) Andres Santo Domingo
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Net worth: $4.9B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Beer
Andres Santo Domingo inherited a massive beer fortune when his father, Julio Mario, passed away in 2011. With roots in Colombia and investments around the world, Andres has made his life in America. The biggest source of his family’s fortune is its 14% stake in brewery SABMiller, which his father acquired when he sold the beer giant his Colombian brewery Bavaria. In 2015 SABMiller’s agreed to a merger with its chief rival Anheuser-Busch InBev.
#10 Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Net worth: $5.5B
Citizenship: Mexico
Source of Wealth: Beer, Investments
Maria Asuncion Aramburuzabala, her sister Lucrecia Aramburuzabala and their mother Lucrecia Larregui together inherited a controlling stake in Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo — maker of Corona beer — when her father, Pablo Aramburuzabala, died in 1995. Maria’s grandfather cofounded the brewery in 1925. In 2013, Anheuser-Busch Inbev bought the 50% of Grupo Modelo it did not already own for $20.1 billion in cash.
#9 Lui Che Woo
© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $7.6B
Citizenship: Hong Kong
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Macau’s travails hammered Lui Che Woo’s Galaxy Entertainment Group, helping to cut his family’s net worth by almost $6 billion last year. Just 2 years ago his and his family’s fortune was Hong Kong’s second biggest, at $21 billion. Undeterred, he presided over last year’s opening of Galaxy Macau’s expansion and the revamped Broadway Macau.
#8 Michael Hartono
ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images
Net worth: $7.9B
Citizenship: Indonesia
Source of Wealth: Tobacco, Banking
Michael and brother Budi Hartono are the richest people in Indonesia with a diverse set of assets. Their most valuable holding is publicly traded Bank Central Asia, one of the biggest financial institutions in their home nation. Another part of their fortune is in kretek, a type of cigarette that’s a blend of cloves, tobacco and other ingredients.
#7 Johann Graf
NORBERT MILLAUER/AFP/Getty Images
Net worth: $8B
Citizenship: Austria
Source of Wealth: Gambling
Johann Graf got his start importing American pinball machines to Austria, then became an agent for a British slot machine company. When electronic machines came out, he found a niche as a servicing specialist, founding Novomatic Automatenhandels AG in 1980. The company introduced the Admiral line of gaming machines. Today Graf operates casinos from Berlin to Santiago — selling slots, video poker, video lottery and electronic table games.
#6 Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Net worth: $10.7B
Citizenship: Thailand
Source of Wealth: Beverages
Thai spirits tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi saw his fortune drop $2.5 billion on a fall in shares of his Singapore-listed Thai Beverage, best known for its Chang beer. His Singapore-listed Fraser and Neave is among the bidders for SABMiller’s Peroni and Grolsch beer brands in what could amount to a $1.3 billion acquisition. ThaiBev also entered India last year with a local partner, launching a range of premium single malts and gins.
#5 Carlos Alberto Sicupira
© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $11.3B
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Beer
Most of Carlos “Beto” Sicupira’s wealth comes from his shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, in which he owns about a 3% stake. He is longtime business partners with Jorge Paulo Lemann and Marcel Herrmann Telles. In 2015 the brewer, already the biggest beer company in the world, made a formal bid to acquire brewer SABMiller for $106 billion. As of late February 2016, the deal still faces regulatory hurdles.
#4 Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken
© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $12.3B
Citizenship: Netherlands
Source of Wealth: Heineken
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is one of the richest women in the world, thanks to her 25% controlling stake in Dutch brewer Heineken, which she inherited from her late father, Freddy Heineken, more than a decade ago. The company sells over 170 premium brands in more than 65 countries. The company has plunked down nearly $30 billion since 2000 on more than 50 acquisitions to keep pace with SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
#3 Marcel Herrmann Telles
© 2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
Net worth: $13B
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Beer
Marcel Hermann Telles owes much of his wealth to his controlling shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, of which he owns just under 5%, alongside fellow billionaires and longtime business partners Carlos Sicupira and Jorge Paulo Lemann. In 2015 the brewer, already the biggest beer company in the world, agreed to buy SABMiller for $106 billion; as of February 2016, the deal still faces regulatory hurdles.
#2 Sheldon Adelson
2014 Getty Images
Net worth: $25.2B
Citizenship: United States
Source of Wealth: Casinos
Sheldon Adelson makes billions running Las Vegas Sands, and he uses that money to buy influence in the Republican Party. Nothing illustrates his reach better than the so-called Adelson Primary: In 2014 candidates such as Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie flew to Vegas to meet with Adelson, detail their visions and receive his money. His net worth tumbled over the course of 2015 as revenues declined at Las Vegas Sands’ casinos in Macau.
#1 Jorge Paulo Lemann
2015 Getty Images
Net worth: $27.8B
Citizenship: Brazil
Source of Wealth: Beer
Jorge Paulo Lemann is Brazil’s richest man thanks to his stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, which he owns through private equity firm 3G Capital together with fellow billionaires and longtime partners Carlos Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles. Lemann is a former Brazilian tennis champion who played at Wimbledon. He has lived in Switzerland since 1999, after an attempted kidnapping of his children.