Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho will step down from his flagship casino empire Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM) as the 96-year-old magnate hands
HONG KONG – Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho will step down from his flagship casino empire Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM) as the 96-year-old magnate hands over the reins to his daughter.
His retirement will take effect on June 12 at the end of SJM’s annual general meeting, after which he will take on the new title of “chairman emeritus,” the company said late Thursday.
Daisy Ho, his daughter, will take over as chairman and executive director. His fourth wife, Angela Leong, and Timothy Fok, son of former business partner Henry Fok, will be appointed co-chairmen and executive directors.
Gaming revenues in Macau were hit hard by a corruption crackdown launched by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2012, but SJM is trying to lure visitors back to Macau with the sprawling new Grand Lisboa Palace complex, reportedly due to open in 2019.
Ho made his riches by transforming Macau from a sleepy Portuguese outpost into the world’s biggest casino hub.
Known as the “godfather” of Macau casinos, Ho was instrumental in turning the city on China’s southern coast into a gambling boomtown, with gaming revenue surpassing Las Vegas.
Ho is the great-nephew of one of Asia’s first tycoons, Robert Hotung, among Hong Kong’s wealthiest individuals at the turn of the 20th century and an influential Eurasian businessman and philanthropist.
