Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN APR 2019 34 IN FOCUS W hile license re-tendering looms as the most significant issue facing Macau in the coming years, perhaps the starkest reminder yet that a new era awaits the enclave’s gaming industry came during the first few months of 2019 as its two most influential figures, STDM founder Dr Stanley Ho and Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, suffered major health scares. On 9 February, reports emerged that Dr Ho had been rushed to the emergency room of a Hong Kong hospital after his condition suddenly deteriorated. Those reports, and others claiming he had been visited by numerous family members over the course of the next few days, were later denied by his third wife Ina Chan Un Chan and their daughter Laurinda, with no further updates provided since. Three weeks later, on 1 March, Sands China – the Macau subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands – filed an update in which it revealed that Adelson was dealing with “certain side effects” from medication he is taking to treat non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which had impacted his ability to perform normal work duties. The update followed speculation in the preceding days over Adelson’s health after an LVS lawyer informed a district judge that the company’s Chairman and CEO was unlikely to be fit to testify in a civil lawsuit. It was also revealed that Adelson had not been seen at the LVS corporate office since Christmas, although Sands China’s filing stated, “The company anticipates that Mr Adelson will return to his regular schedule at the completion of his treatment.” Nevertheless, at 97 and 85-years-old respectively, it is an inevitable fact of life that the reigns of Dr Ho and Adelson over the Macau gaming industry are now deep into their twilight – prompting the question: what will become of the gaming goliaths they created once their time finally does come to an end? No-one has had such an enormous impact on shaping modern-day Macau as these two men. Often referred to as the Godfather of Macau’s gambling industry, Stanley Ho’s influence dates back to 1962 when he and three colleagues – Henry Fok, Yip Hon and Teddy Yip – founded Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, SA (STDM), having been granted a monopoly on operating games of fortune in the enclave a few months earlier. That monopoly lasted for 40 years and saw STDM operating a total of 11 casinos by the time of liberalization in 2001, including its first, Casino Estoril, opened in 1962, and the now iconic Casino Lisboa, opened in 1970. Dr Ho is also credited with introducing junkets to Macau in the 1970s, which today comprise around half of the SAR’s annual revenue of US$37.6 billion as of 2018. Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands and Sands China, Sheldon Adelson ラスベガス・サンズ及びサンズ・チャイナの会長兼CEOシェルドン・アデルソン氏