Stanley Ho was born in 1921 into a wealthy Hong Kong family, the ninth of 13 children. When Stanley was 13, his father lost his fortune in a stock market crash and, after his two oldest sons committed suicide, he abandoned the family.
Ho studied hard and earned a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong, where he learned English. His college career was interrupted in 1942 when the Japanese invaded China. He was working as a telephone operator for the British when the Japanese took Hong Kong. Reportedly, he ditched his uniform and snuck onto a boat for neutral Macau, legend has it with the clothes on his back and $10 in his pocket.
In Macau, he went to work for a company that supplied Japanese troops, where he excelled due to his fluency in languages.
Meantime, Ho got into the smuggling business, running luxury goods from Macau into China, reportedly under the protection of the Japanese. He also started kerosene and construction companies in Hong Kong and after the war, with construction booming in Hong Kong, Ho made his first fortune –- at age 25.
Along the way, Ho met and married Clementina Leitao, a beauty from a prestigious Portuguese family; they had four children. Clementina’s father was a prominent Macanese lawyer whose connections proved invaluable for the Ho family.
After the war, Ho continued his climb to the top of the Macau pecking order by cooperating with the Communists and, with several business partners, beating out the Fu family, longtime Macau casino operators, for the casino monopoly. Suspicions that Ho had a relationship with the Kung Lok Triad, otherwise known as the Chinese Mafia, date back to this time.
In 1962, Ho married Lucina Laam King-ying (polygamy was legal in Hong Kong till 1971). First wife Clementina was involved in a car accident in 1973, suffered brain damage, and required constant nursing care; one of the nurses was Ina Chan, whom Ho took up with in 1985 and had three children. Ho also got involved with Angela Leong On-kei in 1988 when he was 67; they have five children.
Altogether, Ho has had 17 children, though two were killed in a car crash.
One of his daughters, Pansy Ho, runs Ho’s casino empire and is a 50% owner in MGM Macau; his son Lawrence is CEO of Melco Crown Entertainment, also a Macau casino company. Daughter Josie Ho is a Chinese rock singer and actress.
Though Ho lost his casino monopoly in 2002 when Macau granted licenses to Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Galaxy Entertainment, and MGM Mirage (in partnership with Pansy Ho), Ho’s companies still own 16 casinos in Macau.
In August 2009, Ho underwent brain surgery to remove a blood clot caused by a fall; according to news reports, he didn't leave the hospital for seven months.
Today, at 89 and infirm, Ho’s dynasty is threatened by infighting among his many children and grandchildren. Given that his net worth is estimated at $3.1 billion, that’s a big chunk of change to be disputed by the various factions among his family.
The rival branches are deep into a feud over control of Ho’s casinos, plus his many businesses, such as Macau’s Hong Kong ferries, department stores, hotels, airport, real estate, banking, and horse and dog tracks. It’s been estimated that Ho’s enterprises employ almost 25% of Macau’s workforce.
Traditionally, the lion’s share of an Asian mogul’s assets go to the family of his first wife. So when Ho announced, on January 24, that he’d bequeathed his $1.6 billion empire to the children of his second and third wives, all hell broke loose. Since then, Ho has claimed he was pressured into the statement and has filed suit to reclaim the assets.
The details of the battle are a bit too numerous and obscure to delve into here, but it appears now that the families of the second and third wives have been plotting to claim a bigger share. According to some reports, Ho wants to divide his estate equally. But one thing seems certain: The fight for Ho’s inheritance will be protracted and bitter.
In the meantime, the stock in Ho’s casino company has taken a nosedive, losing a reported $1 billion in market capitalization in a short while.
