Macau (MNA) – A “legendary figure” in the local gaming industry, Stanley Ho Hung-sun is officially retiring on Tuesday as Chairman and Executive Director and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM).
“Dr. Stanley Ho is the founder of STDM and SJM. In many ways, his contribution to Macau is immense,” Ambrose So Shu Fai, Executive Director and CEO of SJM Holdings Ltd., told Macau News Agency (MNA) on Tuesday.
SJM was created in 2001 as a subsidiary of Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A. (STDM), founded by Stanley Ho in 1962.
Following Mr. Ho’s retirement today, SJM’s Executive Director and CEO is also appointed Vice-Chairman of the company.
So said further that Mr. Ho “not only laid the foundation for the gambling industry to flourish but also helped transform Macau into a modern city.”
Also speaking to MNA, Ricardo Chi Sen Siu, associate professor in Business Economics at the University of Macau, claims that Mr. Ho was “unarguably” one of the most important characters in the development of the city’s modern gaming industry.
“Throughout this process, his decisions to construct and open the Hotel Lisboa and efforts to obtain the approval from the Macao-Portuguese Government to introduce the slot machines in Macau’s gaming industry in the early 1970s marked some of the milestones of the industry,” said Mr. Siu.
The professor stated that Mr. Ho’s contributions to Macau are not only limited to the gaming industry proper, but extend to the modern development of Macau modern and economic society.
“In the Chinese philosophy, he really achieves what is called ‘earn from the society and spend (invest) back to the society’,” claimed the professor.
Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, a daughter of Mr. Ho’s with second wife Lucinda Laam King Ying, will succeed her father as Chairman of the company.
The new Chairman is also the sister of Pansy Ho and Lawrence Ho, both gaming licence holders in the city, of MGM Macau and Melco Resorts and Entertainment, respectively.
Angela Leong On Kei, a legislator and fourth wife of Mr. Ho with diverse interests in the local gaming industry – L’Arc, the Jockey Club, the infamous Canidrome, and Pousada de São Tiago, to name but a few – is to become Co-Chairwoman and Executive Director of the Company with Timothy Fok Tsun Ting.
The ‘King of Gambling,’ now aged 96, owned the gaming monopoly in Macau for 40 years.
[Updates add comments by Professor Ricardo Siu]
