Founder and Chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group and founder of K. Wah International. The Hong Kong–based industrialist seized on Macao's 2002 gaming-licence liberalisation to build Galaxy Macau and StarWorld — large integrated resorts that reshaped Cotai. In 2015 he established the LUI Che Woo Prize for World Civilisation.

From Hong Kong quarries to a Cotai integrated resort — a "quarry king" used a Macao gaming licence to rewrite the city's tourism map.

Lui Che Woo is the Founder and Chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group and the founder of K. Wah International. The Hong Kong–based industrialist seized on Macao's 2002 gaming-licence liberalisation to build Galaxy Macau and StarWorld — large integrated resorts that reshaped Cotai. In 2015 he established the LUI Che Woo Prize for World Civilisation.

Profile

  • Chinese Name: 呂志和
  • English Name: Lui Che Woo
  • Region: Hong Kong / Macao
  • Domains: Business
  • Industry: Gaming · Property · Hospitality · Construction materials
  • Subject type: Entrepreneur

Principal Roles

  • Founder & Chairman, Galaxy Entertainment Group
  • Founder & Chairman, K. Wah International
  • Founder, LUI Che Woo Prize — Prize for World Civilisation

Career

Born in Jiangmen, Guangdong in 1929, Lui Che Woo moved to Hong Kong after World War II and built his early career in construction materials and quarrying — earning the nickname "King of Quarries".

I. Building the K. Wah group

From the 1950s through the 1970s he expanded from quarrying into property, hospitality, and construction materials, gradually forming the K. Wah group and taking K. Wah International public in Hong Kong.

II. Into Macao gaming

After Macao's 2002 gaming-licence liberalisation he secured a gaming concession. He opened StarWorld Macau in 2006 and Galaxy Macau in 2011, followed by Galaxy Macau Phase 2 and the Raffles at Galaxy — propelling Galaxy Entertainment into Macao's top tier of operators.

III. The LUI Che Woo Prize

In 2015 he established the LUI Che Woo Prize — Prize for World Civilisation, with three categories (Sustainability, Welfare Betterment, and Positive Energy) — now widely regarded as the defining public undertaking of his later years.

Key Achievements

  • Founder of Galaxy Entertainment Group, one of Macao's six gaming operators
  • Founder of K. Wah International
  • Founder of the LUI Che Woo Prize for World Civilisation (2015)
  • A Hong Kong industrialist who crossed from construction materials into gaming, property, and hospitality

Contribution to Macao

Lui Che Woo transformed Galaxy Entertainment from a Hong Kong group into one of the central developers of Cotai. Galaxy Macau and StarWorld are among the largest integrated resorts on the Cotai Strip, driving employment, tax revenue, and tourist flows — providing a major institutional vehicle for Macao's positioning as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.