Asia's Gambling Tycoons: Stanley Ho, Lim Goh Tong and Other Industry Founders

Who Asia's gambling tycoons are

The people who built gambling in Asia were not a single type. Some were monopoly concessionaires who won a government franchise and held it for decades. Some were organizers of illegal but tolerated numbers games that moved more cash in a day than a small bank. A few were foreign operators who arrived once a market opened.

The pattern repeats across the region. In British Malaya, the colonial government sold the right to run gambling to the highest bidder, usually a Chinese syndicate that paid fees for the privilege⁷. In Macau, the same idea took the form of a formal concession, granted to one consortium for four decades⁸. In India, where no such franchise existed, the Matka business grew outside the law and became a parallel industry with its own kingpins⁹.

What ties these figures together is that each of them sat at the point where money, local politics and a game met. Understanding them is a shortcut to understanding why gambling in Asia is organized the way it is: concentrated, licensed, and often tied to a single family name.

Stanley Ho: the man who held Macau's casino monopoly

Stanley Ho Hung-sun is the central figure in the modern history of Asian gambling. His syndicate obtained the gambling franchise in Macau in 1962, and through it he controlled casino operations in the territory for 40 years, until 2002¹.

The franchise was not handed to him. It followed a bidding contest in 1961, in which a consortium led by Ho acquired the gaming monopoly and then exercised exclusive operational control for four decades⁸. From that point, anyone who wanted to run games of fortune in Macau dealt with Ho's group.

Ho's wealth came to be estimated at about $3 billion, and he was widely known as Macau's casino king because of the monopoly he held⁵. He was also a founder of businesses well beyond the casino floor. He founded Shun Tak Group, whose interests ran through shipping, property, investment, hotels and entertainment and leisure services¹¹.

He stepped back from day-to-day roles late in life. In June 2017 he retired as Group Executive Chairman and Executive Director of Shun Tak Holdings at the conclusion of the company's annual general meeting¹². He died in 2020, and the estate he left behind became the subject of a family dispute.

STDM: the company behind the monopoly

The vehicle for the monopoly was STDM, the Macau Tourism and Entertainment Company. It was the consortium that acquired the gaming monopoly in 1961 and held exclusive operational control until 2002⁸.

STDM did not disappear when the monopoly ended. It became the principal shareholder in SJM Holdings, the listed company that grew out of the monopoly business. As of December 31, 2021, STDM held 3,062,059,500 shares in SJM Holdings, about 53.90% of the issued shares, as beneficial owner and through controlled corporations².

There is a formal separation between the two. Under a deed of non-competition dated June 18, 2008, STDM agreed not to compete with SJM Resorts' casino gaming business in Macau, apart from its interest in Melco, and not to increase its interest in Melco².

SJM Holdings describes itself as a leading owner, operator and developer of casinos and integrated entertainment resorts in Macau¹³. Its operating arm, SJM Resorts, S.A., is one of six companies granted gaming concession contracts in Macau, authorized by the Macau SAR government to operate casinos and gaming areas¹³.

The end of the monopoly: how Macau's licenses were opened up

Macau's monopoly system had run since Legislative Regulation 1496 of July 4, 1961, under which games of fortune in the territory were granted on an exclusive basis¹⁴. That arrangement lasted for decades, and by the late 1990s it was clearly approaching its end: Ho's management monopoly was due to expire at the end of 2001, and the government was already considering entry by multiple companies¹⁵.

The change came through law. Macau passed its gaming law on August 30, 2001, breaking the decades-long casino monopoly⁴. The government's stated position was that it would grant at most three licenses for the operation of games of fortune, ending the monopoly system and opening the market¹⁴.

The licenses went out in 2002. The recipients included:

• SJM Holdings, with STDM as its principal stakeholder
• Galaxy Casino S.A.
• Wynn Resorts Macau S.A.
• Las Vegas Sands Corp.
• Venetian Macau S.A.
• MGM Grand Paradise
• Melco PBL Gaming, Ltd.⁸

In practice this meant licenses going to Las Vegas figures including Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson¹⁰.

The effect on Macau was immediate and large. In 2006, Macau's gaming revenue surpassed that of the Las Vegas Strip, making it the largest casino market in the world⁴. Macau remains the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, and its casinos are open 24 hours⁵.

SJM, Shun Tak and the business empire Ho left behind

Ho's interests were split across two listed groups, and both are still operating.

SJM Holdings is the casino side. Ho was its founder and chairman, and it owns 19 casinos in Macao, including the Grand Lisboa¹⁶. The company's own description is of a leading owner, operator and developer of casinos and integrated entertainment resorts in Macau, and its subsidiary SJM Resorts is one of the six concession holders¹³.

Shun Tak Holdings is the transport, property and hospitality side, listed in Hong Kong under stock code 242¹⁷. Ho founded the group and served as its administrative chairman, and its business spans shipping, property, investment, hotels and entertainment and leisure services¹¹. As of June 2017, its executive directors were Pansy Ho, Angela Ho, Ho Chiu King, Shum Hong Kiu and Wan Ho Fan, with Ho Hau Chong, Ho Chu Kuo, Ng Chi Man and Yip Ka Kei as independent non-executive directors¹⁷. Pansy Ho held 161,865,937 shares in the company personally¹⁷.

Pansy Ho also built her own position in the casino business. MGM China, which listed in 2011, was co-owned by MGM Resorts International and Pansy Ho⁵. Melco International Development, meanwhile, was a Hong Kong-listed company controlled by Stanley Ho and his son¹⁰.

Ratan Khatri and the Matka game of India

Matka is a form of betting and lottery that originated in 1950s Bombay, when people placed bets on the opening and closing rates of cotton transmitted to the Bombay Cotton Exchange from the New York Cotton Exchange³. Ratan Khatri, described as the founder and king of Satta Matka, introduced the idea of declaring the opening and closing rates of imaginary products, which turned a cotton-price betting habit into a self-contained daily game³.

The game spread through the mill districts. Central Mumbai became the hub of the Matka business as bookies opened shops in and around mill areas where mill workers played⁹. The 1980s and 1990s were the peak, with the business turning over around Rs 500 crore every month⁹.

The term "Matka King" has its own meaning: a person who has won a great deal of money from Matka gambling³. Khatri was the original, and his life has since been dramatized, with a series based on him produced for streaming⁹.

How Matka worked: chits, a pot and huge daily turnover

The mechanics were simple enough that anyone could play, which is a large part of why it spread.

Originally, numbers from 0 to 9 were written on pieces of paper and placed in a matka, a large earthen pitcher. One person drew a chit and declared the winning numbers⁹. The pitcher gave the game its name.

Current practice is different. Three numbers are drawn from a pack of playing cards⁹. The modern-day game, sometimes called Satta King, is based on random number selection and betting⁹.

Family disputes over Ho's estate

The dispute matters beyond the family because of what sits inside the estate. Ho's holdings ran through SJM Holdings, with its 19 Macau casinos including the Grand Lisboa, and through Shun Tak Holdings, with its shipping, property and hotel businesses¹⁶. Control of those stakes is control of a substantial part of Macau's gaming and transport infrastructure.

The public record of the family's roles is mostly corporate. Shun Tak's filings list Pansy Ho, Angela Ho and Ho Chiu King among its executive directors, and Pansy Ho's personal shareholding in the company¹⁷. MGM China's ownership was split between MGM Resorts International and Pansy Ho⁵.

What these founders' stories explain about Asia's casino industry

Three things about gambling in Asia today trace directly back to these founders.

First, the concession model. Macau's casino industry exists in its current shape because one franchise was held by one consortium for 40 years and then replaced by a small number of licenses⁸. The same logic ran through colonial Malaya, where the right to run gambling was sold to the highest bidder, usually a Chinese syndicate that held monopoly rights while paying fees to the government⁷. Licensing a few operators, rather than allowing open entry, is the region's default.

Second, the family structure. Ho's empire did not dissolve; it split into listed companies with family members in executive roles, and the estate dispute is the visible edge of that¹⁷. Casino businesses in Asia tend to be family businesses, and the transition from founder to heirs is where the interesting decisions get made.

Third, the games that grow outside the system. Matka needed no license, no building and no government approval, and at its peak it moved around Rs 500 crore a month through bookies' shops in Mumbai⁹. Where a legal market is closed, an illegal one tends to appear at scale, and it tends to be organized by exactly the kind of figure Khatri was.

The industry these founders built is also still changing. Land-based casinos across Southeast Asia have largely shifted online, offering live-dealer streaming and proxy betting services¹. Online operators serving Asia have added Chinese, Japanese and Thai language options to explain betting rules, because Asian players are a market they are actively courting¹⁸. And in markets that are only now considering legal casinos, the regulatory thinking has moved on: Thailand's rules, for instance, contemplate facial recognition for verifying casino players¹⁹.

For anyone trying to understand why Macau looks the way it does, or why a numbers game could become a household name in Mumbai, the founders are the place to start. The STDM monopoly is the clearest single example, and the history of gambling farms shows the same licensing instinct at work under colonial governments. If you want the individual stories in more depth, there are pages on Stanley Ho, Ratan Khatri, Lim Goh Tong and Genting and Bill Benter.