Chinese Casino Lords Prepare for War

Macau casino mogul, Stanley Ho, at age 86 is watching the gambling wave unfurling on his home ground and he doesn't like it. For years he has been the king of the "Monte Carlo of the Orient," happily operating the Lisboa Casino.

He built the 12-storey hotel in 1970 with partners. They added rooms in 1991 and again in 2006. The company opened its all-new Grand Lisboa, an egg-shaped casino and a hotel tower resembling a golden lotus, across the street from the old Lisboa in February 2007.

Competition mounds
But Stanley Ho has his finger on the pulse and is warily watching the competition and has decided that his best defense is to go on the offensive.

Last month, Ho announced that he plans to spend HK$12 billion ($1.54 billion US) building a new complex. Building a successor to the old Lisboa is Mr. Ho's biggest gamble. Proposals from architectural firms are due in September. Demolitions are set for next year, and the new-generation Lisboa will open in 2012.

It's not all desperate news for SJM and Ho. SJM already owns 19 of Macau's 29 casinos and gets 29% of the market's gambling revenues. His biggest competitor is Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands, which owns 2 casinos, is close behind with 21%, and gaining.

Someone change the rules?
Mr. Ho has been uncontested casino king of Macau for 40 years and has amassed billions of dollars in profit from the gambling tables he controls in the Chinese enclave. According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Ho, an accomplished ballroom dancer, is the wealthiest person in Macau and one of the wealthiest in Asia. He tied for 104th rank among the world's richest people in 2007, with an estimated net worth of $7 billion.

Macau's favorite son
The income generated by Ho's businesses constitutes about one-third of the gross domestic product of Macau. The taxes on them brought in about 30% of the Macau government's revenue in 2003 and they are the largest employer in Macau, with more than ten thousand employees.

Ho's personal life is as colorful as his business life. Ho has publicly acknowledged that he has four wives who gave birth to 17 children. Some of them are famous in their own right. His grandchildren are considered socialites by the media and are a favorite subject of local social columns.