Inside Asian Gaming

APR 2019 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 29 The ailinghealthof Adelson and Dr Ho – particularly with their current 20- year gaming concessions coming to an end in 2022 – inevitably raises questions as to what their companies will looklikeoncedeparted. It was also revealed that Adelson had not been seen at the LVS corporate office since Christmas, although Sands China’s filing stated, “The company anticipates that Mr Adelson will return to his regular schedule at the completion of his treatment.” Nevertheless, at 97 and 85-years-old respectively, it is an inevitable fact of life that the reigns of Dr Ho and Adelson over the Macau gaming industry are now deep into their twilight – prompting the question: what will become of the gaming goliaths they created once their time finally does come to an end? No-one has had such an enormous impact on shaping modern-day Macau as these two men. Often referred to as the Godfather of Macau’s gambling industry, Stanley Ho’s influence dates back to 1962 when he and three colleagues – Henry Fok, Yip Hon and Teddy Yip – founded Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, SA (STDM), having been granted a monopoly on operating games of fortune in the enclave a few months earlier. That monopoly lasted for 40 years and saw STDM operating a total of 11 casinos by the time of liberalization in 2001, including its first, Casino Estoril, opened in 1962, and the now iconic Casino Lisboa, opened in 1970. Dr Ho is also credited with introducing junkets to Macau in the 1970s, which today comprise around half of the SAR’s annual revenue of US$37.6 billion as of 2018.