Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | October 2010 12 In Focus T he recent appointment of Timothy Fok as an executive director of SJM Holdings might just help untie the Gordian knot-like problem of how one day to replace Dr Stanley Ho. Mr Fok, aged 64, is the eldest son of the late Hong Kong businessman Henry Fok. Mr Fok senior is considered by many inside and outside Macau as the person who effectively bankrolled Dr Ho’s bid via STDM for the Macau gaming monopoly back in 1962. Dr Ho stayed in the public eye, while Mr Fok senior—also known by his Chinese name Fok Ying-tung—remained more in the background as far as the casinos business was concerned. Mr Fok the younger has many of the trappings commonly associated with second-generation wealth in this part of the world—expensive education overseas at a private school (Millfield in the United Kingdom), and marriage (for a while) to a former Miss Hong Kong. But he is far from being a lightweight in terms of his public profile. As a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (Legco), he is clearly identified with the patriotic so-called Chop Chop Could the appointment of a relative outsider to the SJM board solve the knotty problem of who succeeds Dr Stanley Ho? Timothy Fok—sporting chance of taking the helm at SJM?