Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2020年6月 亞博匯 30 COVER STORY In time, Ho dominated STDM and then the city. A US official in Hong Kong in the early 1960s described Ho as “a young man on the make.” Macau presented a less crowded field more in need of leadership than Hong Kong. While the Portuguese colonial administration dawdled and local elites thought small, Ho thought big. In August 1970, Ho declared his presence with Casino Lisboa, combining Vegas with a European grand hotel as Ho sought to craft Macau as Asia’s Monte Carlo. Initially criticized by many as too fancy for Macau, Lisboa represented a “crucial stage” in Ho’s career, University of Macau Associate Professor of Business Economics Ricardo Siu acknowledges, but as part of a larger story. “The most lasting contribution of Dr Stanley Ho to Macaumay indeed be reflected fromhis ambitious and unceasing efforts to modernize the Macau economy,” Siu, a Macau native, says. Those efforts were in striking contrast to the “short-termism” of Macau’s Portuguese administration, and they continued despite “critical uncertainties” in economics and politics during the 1980s and 1990s. Early on, Ho pioneered hydrofoil travel in Asia between Macau and Hong Kong, replacing the previous overnight cruise with a one hour jaunt. (STDM pays gaming tax of 38% rather than the 39% levied on the other concessionaires in exchange for harbor maintenance, including dredging). Ho’s Shun Tak Holdings assembled one of the world’s largest hydrofoil fleets, developed its Hong Kong terminal into a major shopping and office complex and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1973. UnderHo’sdirection,STDMinvestedininfrastructure, including Macau International Airport, flag carrier Air Macau and the city’s first iconic convention venue, Macau Tower, and ran horse and dog racing. It also took stakes in banks, hotels and properties, including Macau’s only department store, New Yaohan, which it