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Stanley Ho (in the Westernized form of his hame; Ho Hung-sun as his romanized traditional Chinese name, and sometimes Stanley Ho Hung-sun; 何鴻燊; born November 25, 1921 in Hong Kong) is a famous entrepreneur in Hong Kong and Macau.
Ho is the wealthiest person in Macau, and one of the wealthiest in Asia. According to Forbes.com, he ranked 303rd among the world's richest people in 2003. He owns many properties in both Hong Kong and Macau and has taken part in many kinds of business including entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, air transportation . His holdings are estimated at US$1.1 billion, and his net worth is $1.4 billion as of 2003.
As to his businesses:
Ho is sometimes nicknamed "The King of Gambling", reflecting his control of the gambling industry in Macau for over 35 years, and his ownership of 8 casinos, with Casino Lisboa being Macau's most famous casino. Despite advanced age, he remains active as of 2004 in social activities such as charity events. Apart from Hong Kong and Macau, he has also invested in North Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. Furthermore, 30 years before, Ho had owned 9 casinos in the Philippines, however, due to conflicts with the president, Ho stopped his business there.
Ho is also a famous industrialist and entrepreneur in Asia, who held a number of important positions in many firms in Hong Kong and Macau. He usually announces his opinions about Hong Kong's estate and commercial development, and it has certain influence on the market.
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There is no doubt that Ho was highborn. His family was one of the most well-known, powerful and influential families at that time. He was born in Ho Tung's family, which was one of the most well-known clans in Hong Kong. His great-grandfather was British and he married a woman from Guangdong. Their eldest son was Ho Tung and the next was Ho Fook, Stanley Ho's grandfather. Ho Sai Kwong, one of Ho Fook's sons, have 13 children. Stanley Ho is the 9th child.
Although his family was very rich, he started his business by himself. When he was 13 years old, his father lost his money in the stock market crash and was bankrupted. Because of this, Ho's two elder brothers committed suicide and his father left his family. At this moment, his family only got two elder sisters, his mother and himself.
One time he went to see a dentist who was a relative of Ho. The dentist knew he had no money and said something embarrassing. He ran home and cried. He swore to his mother: "I must become a successful man. Let those relatives who only talk about money to know, I will earn a lot of money in 10 years".
Ho studied in Queen's College. At the time he entered the College, he got the best environment for his study. Nevertheless, like lots of children from wealthy families, his academic results were bad. He attended class D, which indicated his poor results. Until his father went bankrupt, he realised that he should start studying hard so as to improve his social status. Eventually, he achieved excellent academic performance, and became the first student studying in class D to be granted a scholarship to enter University.
His excellent results in upper forms allowed him to enter the University of Hong Kong with a scholarship. He lived in Ricci Hall during his university life and was an active hall member. After years of fruitful university life, he obtained an honorary doctorate of social sciences. In addition to the knowledge from his major, he learned fluent English, Japanese and Portuguese. He also gained knowledge in business which was helpful to his later career.
Ho started to do clerical work in a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau. Then in 1941, when his wealthy family went broke and Hong Kong was invaded by the Japanese, he migrated to Macau and worked in a trading company. With his knowledge of 4 languages and his talents, he won the trust of his employers and quickly became a partner of the firm when he was 21 years old. One time, he was in-charged to do a trading in the sea. He held 300 thousands, similar to several millions today, and was attacked. His partners were shot and he quickly laid down. When the thieves saw the money, they all rushed towards that. Ho then took the gun and drove the ship back. This made him trustable and then successful in many other sea trade. Because of his outstanding performance, he was given 1 million for bonus in 1943. In 1943, he used the bonus dividend of 1 million dollars to invest in Hong Kong. He set up a kerosene company and established a construction company. At that time, the construction industry in Hong Kong was growing rapidly. Ho had earned lots of profit in this opportunity.
Ho and his partners, including Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, big-time Macau gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip etc., bid for Macau franchise. By bidding high and promising to promote tourism and to develop infrastructures, they won the public tender for Macau's gaming monopoly. And it cost just $410,000. In 1961, the company was renamed to Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A.R.L. (STDM).
Under Ho and Yip's management, the hotel Lisboa Casino business was blooming rapidly which then became a famous international casino. In 1972, it became the landmark of Macau and was the biggest hotel and casino. At that time, STDM operated nine casinos in total.
In the same year, Ho also set up Shun Tak Holdings Ltd, which was listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It owns one of the world's largest fleets of high-speed jetfoils, which travel between Hong Kong and Macau. Ho built casinos and hotels.
In 1987, Portugal agreed to return Macau to China in 1999. And Ho took part in the joint advisory committee.
In 1989, STDM took the full control of Macau Jockey Club and he became the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO).
In 1991, he led STDM to build and run the Ka-Ho Port in order to launch container operations. In addition, the oil terminal opened in 1995.
In 1995, he and STDM invested in the development of Macau's new $1.1-billion international airport. 14% of shares of Air Macau belonged to Ho and STDM. In 1996, Macau World Trade Center, which had been invested in by STDM, opened. He took stakes in Macau's airline, airport, television network, golf course, roads, bridges, electricity company, horse-racing track, port and harbor.
In 1998, Ho became the first living Macau resident to have a local street named after him. He also launched Asia's first soccer and basketball lottery called SLOT.
STDM invests rather large amount of money in promoting tourism in Macau. For example, the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center, open in December 2001, became Macau's another landmark. The 338-meter tower is the world's 10th tallest. His investment in Macau is diverse in different types of industries.
He has launched the DrHo888.com web site, an online casino operated in partnership with Vancouver-based Eyeball.com. DrHo888.com offers various casino games like Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette.
The success of the gambling business in Macau is to a great extent due to the gambling policy in Hong Kong in the 1870's. In 1867, Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell, the governor of Hong Kong introduced a policy of collecting heavy taxes on gambling licenses. In 1872, Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy further forbade gambling in Hong Kong. Consequently, a custom of gambling in Macau has grown until now.
Casino Lisboa is one of the landmarks of Macau, and is open 24 hours a day. The casino features 107 slots and 146 table games. The property has six restaurants and a hotel with 1,000 rooms.
It owns up to 70% market share of Macau's gambling business. As this kind of gambling is illegal in Hong Kong, it is welcomed by tourists. Benefitting from the individual travelling policy between Hong Kong and Macau, the business of Casino Lisboa has increased rapidly, especially in the Chinese Lunar New Year. Within that period, the average daily income is HK$100 million. It is predicted that Lisboa needs to pay HK$8 billion for betting duty.
Besides casino, soccer, horse race and dog race gambling are the other main income sources of Macau's gambling industry. Before the setting up of soccer gambling betting rules in Hong Kong, soccer gambling in Macau was very popular among Hong Kong residents.
For many years, the gambling industry of Macau was solely owned by Ho's STDM. This era of monopoly came to an end in 2000. In February 2000, the government of Macau SAR proposed to split Macau's gambling operation right into three parts. The casinos in Macau were still under STDM, but those in Coloane (路環) and Taipa (氹仔) were opened for bidding. At last, in 2002, other casino operators got the licenses for casinos in Coloane and Taipa.
Although gambling in Macau can benefit the economy in different areas, such as tourism, it can also lead to social problems. As we know, one can be addicted to gambling which is also considered to be a kind of mental illness (Pathological Gambling). Those who are suffered from this illness would devote themselves to gambling. They treat gambling as a part of their life instead of for entertainment. Lastly, those patients may lose their job, family, friends, etc. As a result, many social problems will be brought about.
Those who are not mature enough to control themselves may think they will win one day. When they don't have enough money, they will try to reach for illegal creditors. Some may even commit crimes like burglary or robbery to compensate for their losses.
Furthermore, the gambling industry is unavoidably related with criminal activities such as drug dealing. Although gambling industries can bring great interest to Macau, it also brings much torment to Macau's government.
Apart from his business and personal life, he has also made a great contribution to education. Several scholarships have been set up to award students for further studies. He established the Guangzhou Education Fund which subsidizes researches in universities. Other funds have been made for the Macau-Sino-Latin Foundation and the Chinese Culture and Arts Association of Macau.
Although he needs to put much effort into his business, Ho is still concerned about the University of Hong Kong. He attended the 90th Anniversary Ceremony of the University of Hong Kong, shared his university life with the public. He was the chairperson of the executive committee of the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research. He gave donations to the University of Hong Kong for
Apart from the University of Hong Kong, he also obtained a honorary doctorate of social sciences in the University of Macau.
Also, Ho is active in the political field. He is a Standing Committee member of the 9th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
In 1998, Dr Stanley Ho Avenue in Macau was named after him which made him the first Chinese in Macau history to receive this honor in his lifetime. In 1995, the Portuguese government honored him the Gra-Cruz da Orem Doiy Infante D Henrique, the highest honor for a civilian for his devotion in contributing back to society.
In 2003, Ho was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Mr. Tung Chee Hwa, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the community, playing an important role in promoting education, sports and other community services for the youth. The GBS is awarded to persons who have given very distinguished services to the community or who have rendered public or voluntary services of a very high degree of merit.
Apart from the positive sides of Ho, he has been repeatedly linked to triads (三合會). Some people think that some of the burglaries and robberies that occurred in Macau casinos were related to the conflict between Ho and triads.
The public incident in the Philippines is the most famous among all the news. Since there's no evidence showing the relationship between Ho and triad activities, Philippine President Joseph Estrada still supports Ho personally. However, some magazines claimed that the profile of Stanley Ho was got, which can identify him as the leader of the Kung Lok triad.
Other than his business, Ho is also well-known because of his mystery stories among his 'wives' and family. For example, the high climate of the fortune inheritance in the Ho's family, conflicts between his wives. He has four wives -- Clementine Leitao(黎婉華), Nam king-ying(藍瓊纓), Chan yuen-chun(陳婉珍), Angela Leung on-ki(梁安琪). Each of them lives in separated big houses in Hong Kong and Macau. Some people said that only the first two are his legal wives. That implies no 'real' marriage between Ho and the two latest wives. However, as all of them are treated as 'wives', mass media always call them "Mrs Ho".
Ho's first wife, Clementine Leitao, was Portuguese. She was beautiful and was nicknamed "the First Pretty in Macau Street". Ho met Leitao when he attended the night school. Leitao and Ho fell in love and got married in the early 40s. She gave birth to 4 children. Their eldest son and his wife died in a car accident ten years ago. Leitao became depressed after that. She died on February 21, 2004 in Hong Kong, when she was 80.
Angela is the board member of Macau Jockey Club. A mainlander about half of Ho's age, Leung is said to have nudged aside others. She has made peace with her stepdaughter Pansy and is regarded as a talented businesswoman.
He has 17 children and some of Ho's children are also famous in Hong Kong and Macau. For example, Pansy Ho Chiu-king (何超瓊), director of STDM (Macau's gambling monopoly) who is good at business and Josie Ho Chiu-yi (何超儀), pop singer and actor who released a number of albums and took part in many movies.
He likes dancing very much, especially tango, chacha, and waltz. He often dances to raise funds for charities on television, and sponsors many dancing performances in Hong Kong and Macau, such as those of the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Macau Arts Festival, so as to promote dancing. Apart from sponsoring performances, he has also invited internationally renowned dancing groups, like the National Ballet of China, to perform in Hong Kong and Macau.
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