If Mr Stanley Ho had any worries that his spouse may have the tendency to be akin to the lyrics of the Kanye West and Jamie Foxx song, “Gold Digger”, he might have just made a huge mistake.
The Far East gambling industry billionaire who has a penchant for truffles and fruit that smells like decomposing flesh has today made the decision that his wife should be handed the reins to a key cog in his organization.
His fourth wife, Angela Leong, was appointed the managing director of Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA, holder of the gambling license for Hong Kong-listed SJM Holdings Ltd, Macau’s largest casino operator in terms of revenue.
This comes as the health of 89-year-old Mr Ho is in doubt, and accordingly his gambling empire of 20 casinos has been in the process of fragmentation since 2002. It all means his four-decade long gambling monopoly over Macau is coming to a slow conclusion. By no means is this the end of Mr Ho.
Ms Leong, a member of Macau’s legislative assembly is an executive director of SJM Holdings and has her own business interests as well. In the coming months she plans to build a family orientated theme park, at a cost of $1.3billion, not including a casino. This is an example of the efforts for Macau to not become completely reliant on the gambling industry.
