From The Straits Times    |

Image: Mario Ho / Instagram

Macau, the extremely rich city famous for being one of the most major gambling centers in the world, has one man to thank for its opulence — Stanley Ho.

Ho is Macau’s richest billionaire who single-handedly built Macau’s gambling-based economy when he secured a government-granted monopoly on the casino industry which he held for 40 years.

The 94-year-old is famously known as “The King of Gambling”, reports Asiantown. 

Of course, billionaires need to have children to establish a dynasty — Ho had 17 children by a total of four women, the oldest child being 69 and the youngest being 17.

When the billionaire patriarch suffered a stroke in July 2009, much of the control of his holding companies went to his older children.

Pansy Ho, the 53-year-old daughter of Ho’s second wife, serves as the co-chair of MGM China and managing director of her father’s most iconic firms, Shun Tak Holdings and the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau.

Today, Pansy Ho is the richest woman in Hong Kong with a net worth of at least $3.8 billion, according to Forbes.

Among his older children from his second wife is Josie Ho, 41, a singer and actress in Hong Kong, and billionaire Lawrence Ho, 40, who runs his own casino empire.

When it comes to Ho’s younger children, they aren’t like your typical rich kids.

Their Instagram lives are relatively low-key and filled with family, friends and pets.

Ho had three children by his third “wife”, Ina Chan, a former nurse who cared for Ho’s second wife after a devastating car accident, beginning in 1989.

 

This story was originally published in Lollipop.sg. For more stories like this, head to www.lollipop.sg.

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