Retired, but still in the building: Stanley Ho’s four-decade grip on the world’s biggest casino hub

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After his official retirement, Stanley Ho, who marks his 97th birthday in November, will remain as Chairman Emeritus of the company that he founded more than half a century ago

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Stanley Ho with his fourth wife Angela Leung after an IPO luncheon for his flagship company Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM) in Hong Kong on 23, June 2008. The company raised HK$3.85 billion. Photo: EPA/YM YIK

Ryan Swift

Published: 5:45pm, 12 Jun 2018Updated: 11:56am, 16 Jan 2019

Godfather. King of Gambling. Uncle Ho. In Macau, Stanley Ho is known by many nicknames.

The nonagenarian casino tycoon, who was once nearly synonymous with Macau’s casinos, is taking his last steps out of the gambling business once and for all.

His retirement was officially approved today at a shareholders’ meeting of SJM Holdings, the flagship company he established more than half a century ago that ran a monopoly on what has ballooned into the world’s largest gambling hub, larger in revenue than the Las Vegas Strip.

Like many casino bosses, Ho doesn’t indulge much in his own product. Unlike many of his peers, Ho loves ballroom dancing.

Stanley Ho Hung-sun off to Portugal in an attempt to sign gambling contract on 8 January, 1962. Photo: SCMP

Dr. Stanley Ho (honorary doctorates were bestowed on him by Hong Kong University and the University of Macau) has managed to be both consummate insider and spurned outsider through the course of his life. His extended family and extensive business holdings have been maddeningly intertwined, creating plenty of work for lawyers and journalists.

Ho’s impact in Macau is now slowly being buried under the weight of international gaming concessionaires and a Chinese government clampdown on illicit money flows.