26th May 2020 – (Hong Kong) 98-year-old casino tycoon, Stanley Ho passed away at 98 at 1.05pm today at Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. It was reported earlier that he was in critical condition while all his family members had gathered at the hospital since yesterday. In addition to being closely monitored by a medical team day and night, Ho had received many intracardiac injections to sustain his life.
After eleven years of treatment, Ho suffered a stroke and later suffered hemiplegia. He was wheelchair-bound and also suffered from dysphagia. In addition, he also suffered from Parkinson’s disease and renal failure. He had to go to the hospital for long-term dialysis. Until last year, it was reported that his heart had issues after dialysis. His condition deteriorated sharply in recent days before he passed away today.
Ho was the founder and Chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa. Ho has been nicknamed variously Godfather and King of Gambling, reflecting the government-granted monopoly he held on the Macau gambling industry for 75 years. His wealth is divided amongst his daughter Pansy Ho ($5.3 billion) who owns MGM Macau, fourth wife Angela Leong ($4.1 billion) who is managing director of SJM Holdings, and son Lawrence Ho ($2.6 billion) who owns City of Dreams.
Ho was also the founder and Chairman of Shun Tak Holdings, through which he owned many kinds of business including entertainment, tourism, shipping, real estate, banking, and air transport. It is estimated that his businesses employ almost one fourth of the workforce of Macau.
Apart from Hong Kong and Macau, he also invested in mainland China, Portugal, North Korea where he operated a casino, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mozambique, Indonesia and East Timor.