Kazuo Okada Biography
Kazuo Okada is a Japanese business magnate and art collector. She previously worked as an executive at Wynn Resorts and as the co-founder and former chairman of Universal Entertainment Corporation, which he left in 2017 following allegations of financial mismanagement.
How old is Kazuo Okada? – Age
He is 79 years old as of 3 October 2021. He was born in 1942 in Osaka, Osaka, Japan.
Kazuo Okada Family
After losing his father at a young age, he became self-sufficient and supported his family. He attended an engineering vocational school to pursue his interest and passion for mechanics.
Kazuo Okada Wife
Okada is a married man with three children who lives in Tokyo.
Kazuo Okada Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.
Kazuo Okada Art
Okada is a Japanese, Chinese, and Korean art collector. In 2013, he opened the Okada Museum of Art near the hot springs resort of Hakone, southwest of Tokyo.
Kazuo Okada Casino
Okada was introduced to Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn in 2000, and he eventually invested $380 million in Wynn’s then-new company, Wynn Resorts. Wynn Resorts opened its first casino in Las Vegas in 2005, followed by a second in Macau in 2006.
Steve Wynn declined to join Okada in a major investment to build a casino in Manila’s Entertainment City in 2008. Okada pursued the investment on his own, establishing a local company, Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc., to oversee the development of the Manila property. The Okada Manila, a $2.4 billion integrated hotel, resort, and casino that represents Okada’s largest investment to date, was unveiled in July 2016.
Kazuo Okada Company
Okada was charged in 2017 with “misappropriating millions of dollars” from his holding company, Okada Holdings. After convincing his family members to vote him out of his Okada Holdings leadership role, Universal Entertainment Corporation removed him as chairman. Universal Entertainment Corporation’s charges of misappropriating funds filed against Okada with the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Paranaque City Regional Court in Manila have since been dismissed. In a statement issued in September 2018, Okada stated, “[t]hese fabricated charges were merely intended to harass me and justify my illegal removal.” Far from being valid cases, their baseless accusations only serve to demonstrate the grand conspiracy perpetrated by my detractors who betrayed my trust,” and vows to fight for his reinstatement as a director, chairman, and CEO of the company.
In 2019, a warrant of arrest was issued for Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada in connection with three cases filed against him regarding his receipt of $3.1 million in alleged unauthorized compensation as CEO of Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment, the operator of Okada Manila. Dentons, the law firm representing him, asked to withdraw from representing Okada in 2021 due to “an irreversible breakdown” in their relationship.
The Court of Appeals overturned the 2019 Paraque court decision and issuance of the arrest warrant on December 9, 2021, stating that the Paraque court “acted with grave abuse of discretion in issuing the warrants of arrest against petitioner (Okada) and [Associate] Usui despite the clear absence of probable cause against them,” and quashed both the criminal charge and the arrest warrant.
Kazuo Okada Career
Okada founded Universal Lease in 1969, which produced coin-operated arcade games for children. Okada’s first trip to Las Vegas in late 1969 influenced his decision to enter the slot machine manufacturing business. He invented the “near-miss” feature in his slot machines, which helped to expand the Japanese market of “pachislot” (a hybrid of pachinko and Las Vegas slot machines) and made Okada’s slot machines popular in Las Vegas. Throughout the 1990s, Universal was a major supplier of machines to Japan’s thriving pachinko industry.
