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The 89-year-old Macau billionaire gambling mogul Stanley Ho is demanding return of funds he says family members obtained without his consent. The family divided a large portion of Ho’s vast casino fortune on Monday in what was originally seen as a seamless process.
By Tuesday, legal representation for the elder Ho insisted other family members were not given permission to take control of funds.
The news has had a negative impact on the company’s share price.
Ho’s SJM Holdings Ltd. slid as much as 8.8 percent in Hong Kong trading as the Ho family squabbles went public, Bloomberg News reported.
SJM has an approximate market value of $9.7 billion and runs most of the casinos in the Chinese gambling haven of Macau, where Bloomberg points out, gambling revenue is four times that of the Las Vegas Strip. Prior to 2003, Ho ran a monopoly in the gambling state. Over the last year, Ho suffered a fall and required several months of hospitalization following brain surgery.
“The market’s puzzling about the whole thing, and it’s starting to feel like we’re watching a TV drama,” said Victor Yip, a Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB-Kay Hian Ltd. “No one knows the final outcome. Many investors will be profit-taking in the short term.”
Ho’s daughter Pansy manages 50 percent of a casino joint venture with MGM Resorts in Macau.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
