Factbox - How Macau's casino licences work

For 40 years, Stanley Ho, also known as Ho Hung-sun reigned absolute master of the gaming industry in Hong Kong and Macao. Thanks to the monopoly allowed by the authorities in the sixties, he compiled a fortune with his firm Sociedade de Jogos de Macao.

At 13 years old, a stock market crash leads to the bankruptcy of his family. Affected but very combative, he decided that only studies could open the door to success to rebuild what has been collapsed under his eyes. He won a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong where he studied English, Japanese and Portuguese.

In the early sixties, his stepfather, so influential, gets for him the monopoly of the game in Macao. In short time, the patrimony of Stanley Ho made of him one of the richest men in Asia. In Hong Kong, he invested massively in tourism and infrastructure.

This involvement contributes significantly to a growth of 27% displayed by Hong King in 2002. But 2002 was also the year of the end of Stanley monopoly.
In 1999, Portugal retro ceded Macao to China and the Chinese government opened the gaming market to foreign investors. At first, the massive influx of American entrepreneurs, determined to make a second Las Vegas in the Far East didn’t disturb the king’s business. On the contrary, his knowledge of the casino and his network enabled him to make capital gains more spectacular.

In 2007, Stanley Ho, who owns 40% of the gaming market built a 52-floor tower in order to send a strong signal to newcomers. But some developers refuse to be intimidated following the example of Las Vegas Sands group, owned by Sheldon Adelson who grows a little more each day.

At 85 years old, it is not sure that "the man who transforms dreams into reality" as the Hong Kong people can call him can confront American entrepreneurs for longtime. Recently Macao authorities decided to slow down the expansion of casinos, a bad news for Stanley Ho.