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Stanley Ho, 'King of Gambling' who built Macau, dies at 98

Obituary

Stanley Ho, 'King of Gambling' who built Macau, dies at 98

Bloomberg Published on Tue, May 26, 2020 / 2:54 PM GMT+8

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(May 26): Stanley Ho, a onetime kerosene trader who built a casino empire in Macau that propelled the Chinese island past Las Vegas as the world’s biggest gambling hub, has died at age 98, his daughter Pansy said.

Known as the King of Gambling, Ho dominated gaming in the former Portuguese colony after winning a monopoly license in 1961. His SJM Holdings Ltd. flourished as China’s economic opening created a flood of new wealth in a country with a passion for gambling. SJM now controls 20 casinos on an island of about 10 square miles.

Ho’s rise transformed Macau from a commercial backwater into the “Las Vegas of Asia” by exploiting its big advantage over the rest of China -- casinos were legal. As his fortune swelled, he expanded beyond the island, building residential and office buildings in Hong Kong. In 1984, he won a license to operate a casino in Portugal and spent $30 million to open the Casino Pyongyang in North Korea in 2000.