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Macau Gaming Czar to Lose Monopoly

"At the Jai Alai Palace, the Mandarin Oriental, the New Century and the Pousada Marina Infante, the scene's basically the same, and the proceeds are all going to one man -- Stanley Ho.

"…But Ho's days as a monopolist are numbered. The Macau government has announced it will not renew Ho's gambling concession when it expires at the end of this year.

"…`It's 40 years I've worked in the casino. It's high time the government should abolish the monopoly,' Ho said in an interview at his penthouse office atop the Macau Ferry Terminal on Hong Kong's skyscraper-studded waterfront.

"`We are not worried. We are the biggest company in Macau and the richest company,' said Ho, whose assets have been valued at $1.8 billion by Forbes magazine.

"Ho has been diversifying his business for years. He has invested in casinos in Portugal, Spain, Australia, Vietnam and North Korea.

"…Ho's 11 casinos account for more than half of Macau's economic activity. He owns most of the hotel rooms and the high-speed ferries that shuttle visitors from Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. His dredgers keep Macau's shallow, silty harbors open. Altogether he employs about 15,000 people, one-fifth of the city's workers.

"…Ho says profits of his privately held casino company jumped 20 percent in the first four months of 2001, and that Beijing's leaders have reassured him that gambling will continue to be banned elsewhere in China."

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