Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JUN 2020 24 COVER STORY Macanese community, Eurasians that held key positions in government and business as a bridge between Chinese and Portuguese residents. He won the heart of coveted Macanese beauty, Clementina Angela Leitao, and they married in 1946; all four of Ho’s unions were of the Chinese traditional variety, short on civil legalities. But when Leitao died in February 2004 the Macau diocese found the marriage sufficiently kosher for a funeral mass in Macau’s Catholic cathedral, the Church of the Nativity of Our Lady, and burial in Sao Miguel Arcanjo Cemetery. THINKING BIG After World War II, Ho returned to Hong Kong, starting a construction company and becoming a leading property developer. But Leitao kept him connected to Macau, leading to STDM (Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau) winning the Macau casino concession in 1962 with an unprecedented bid of US$410,000. Experts contend STDM wouldn’t have won without help from Leitao’s family, perhaps even inside information to raise their bid by the reportedly decisive US$10,000. Still, many cast Ho as a bit player in STDM’s all-star lineup. In time, Ho dominated STDM and then the city. A US official in Hong Kong in the early 1960s described Ho as “a young man on the make.” Macau presented a less crowded field more in need of leadership than Hong Kong. While the Portuguese colonial administration dawdled and local elites thought small, Ho thought big. In August 1970, Ho declared his presence with Casino Lisboa, combining Vegas with a European grand hotel as Ho sought to craft Macau as Asia’s Monte Carlo. Initially criticized by many as too fancy for Macau, Lisboa represented a “crucial stage” in Ho’s career, University of Macau Associate Professor