Casino King Lim Goh Tong dies Age 90

Oct 23, 07 - Casino King Lim Goh Tong, who turned a jungle hilltop into one of the world's most successful casino resorts, died today, the firm he founded said. He was 90.

Lim developed the hilltop Genting Highlands casino resort in the 1960s and founded the Genting group, which grew into a conglomerate comprising listed companies on the Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong bourses.

He was ranked 204th on the Forbes 2007 list of billionaires worldwide, with his family's assets valued at 4.2 billion dollars.

Besides gaming operations in Malaysia and Britain, as well as one planned for Singapore, Genting has interests in the leisure, power, oil and gas, property and plantation sectors.

Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Star Cruises, is the third-largest cruise operator in the world. Another subsidiary, Genting International, owns Stanley Leisure, the United Kingdom's largest casino operator.

"If there were more entrepreneurs like him, Malaysia would have achieved more in its economic development," former premier Mahathir Mohamad has said. "His struggle can be considered part and parcel of Malaysian development."

Born in 1918 in China's Fujian province, Lim was 19 when he moved as a poor immigrant to Malaya, as Malaysia was then known. Lim made his first fortune in heavy machinery trading after the Second World War.

He was almost 50 and a prosperous contractor when the idea to develop a hilltop resort in central Pahang state, close to Kuala Lumpur, came to him.

His vision for developing Pahang's Genting Highlands hinged on building a road to the resort site 1,800m above sea level. He began work in 1965.

Recounting a landslide that almost swept him away, he wrote in his 2004 autobiography: "Back home that night, I said to my wife that I had gone to hell but was told to turn back and continue with my work."

Lim completed the road and opened the casino in 1971. It became the flagship of the Genting group, which took its name from the Genting Highlands resort. His second son, Kok Thay, who now heads Genting, has lauded his father's work ethic.

"My father has often reminded me that there is no shortcut to success," Kok Thay said at Lim's 2007 birthday celebrations.

Lim was married to Lee Kim Hua, with whom he had six children. - AFP