Through the years the gaming industry of Macau has gone through many ups and downs in order to become what it is at the moment, namely the leading gambling hub on a global scale and a location strongly attractive for gaming developers. Today is the official day on which Chairman and Executive Director of SJM Holdings, Stanley Ho is set to officially step down from his leading position and retire at the age of 96.
The Hong Kong billionaire is one of the most renown names in the casino industry on a global level and is also known as the Godfather or King of Gambling since he has dedicated his entire career to improving the gambling field and transforming it into what it is at the moment. Back in the days, however, the situation in the field was far from its current state, as Dr Ho enjoyed a monopoly over the field which has been granted by the government.
With the help of the only casino license in the then-Portuguese colony acquired in 1962, he made a move in the right direction and laid the foundation of his future gambling dynasty. For the next 40 years, his company was the sole casino operator in the field completely monopolizing the field.
He utilized the time to generate capital and invest it in other projects over the span of almost half a century, up until the moment when the government decided to open its doors for other investors as well and bring variety to the field.
Decades of Gambling History brought by Stanley Ho
The year 2002 brought this innovation to the field and foreign companies were quick to enter the budding casino industry transforming it completely. Casino tycoons to the liking of Sheldon Adelson, Chief Executive Officer of Las Vegas Sands, and Steve Wynn, former Chief Executive Officer of Wynn Resorts entered the still-forming casino sector bringing a breath of fresh air to it.
Dr Ho made sure he improved not only the status quo on a local level, but also in other countries around the world, investing in countries such as Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Parallelly with the casino development Dr Ho develops the operation of Shun Tak Holdings, which is interested in other industries such as entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, as well as aviation.
Since June last year, the casino tycoon is also no longer a part of the structure of the company and he was succeeded by his other daughter Pansy Ho. Rough estimations of the region point out that as much as quarter of the workforce of Macau is currently employed by companies managed by Dr Ho.
In the meantime, at the moment there are 30 casino locations in operation in Macau and of them as many as 14 of them are overseen by Dr Ho which is a considerable figure when it comes to the international gambling hub. Today’s official retirement of SJM Holding’s leading figure comes as no surprise since it has been appointed a couple of months ago. It comes after SJM’s annual general meeting which aims to bring clarity regarding feature endeavors of the casino developer.
Daisy Ho, who is the daughter of Dr Ho is set to become the new Chairman and Executive Director of the operator. The fourth wife of Dr Ho, Angela Leong, is going to receive the Co-Chairwoman and Executive Director position in the company. Following the retirement the casino operator is expected to continue developing in the same general direction under its new management.
