Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2020年6月 亞博匯 26 COVER STORY until June 2018 at age 96. His own words and his decade-long health battle notwithstanding, make no mistake: Stanley Ho won and won big. From his 16 children by four different consorts to five decades as the King of Macau, Ho was larger than life, a passionate ballroom dancer, proud owner of Hong Kong 2008/09 Horse of the Year Viva Pataca and an extraordinarily successful businessman. Wielding an iron fist in a velvet glove guided by superhuman quantities of brains, guts and charm, Ho created the modern Macau that China inherited in December 1999. FAMILY TREE Ho cultivated the image of Macau’s goodhearted uncle, backed with a reputation for ruthlessness and a hidden mean streak. For decades, Ho pressured sister Winnie Ho over two children fathered by their cousin Eric Hotung; one of those children sued Ho, claiming HK$2 billion (US$255 million) in unpaid STDM dividends. In 2011, Ho went on live television from his sickbed at age 89 to fight Pansy Ho and her allies over distribution of his fortune. Some Ho apples didn’t fall far from the tree. Stanley Ho was born into the rogue branch of Hong Kong’s famed Ho Tung clan. His great-grandfather, Charles Bosman – Ho Sze Man in Cantonese – was a successful Dutch-Jewish entrepreneur in mid-19th century Hong Kong. His cousins include Bruce Lee. Bosman’s son Robert Hotung gained fame and wealth as a compradore (purchasing agent) with British trading house Jardines and was twice knighted by Britain. Hotung’s younger brother Ho Fook succeeded him as Jardines’ chief compradore and had 13 sons, including Ho Sai Kwong. That son shared in the clan’s extensive wealth and influence until ruined in the 1929 global stock market crash. Two of his sons were driven to suicide and Ho Sai Kwong fled, leaving his ninth child, Stanley Ho Hung Sun, barely in his teens, to take care of his mother and two sisters. Handouts from relatives, often delivered with ridicule, built a strong desire to