Casino News

Ho family battles in UK gaming forum

Thursday, 3 July 2008 - 06:53 (GMT)

Eighty year old Stanley Ho and his younger sister are having something of a dust-up. Ho, who has made a fortune in online gaming, has decided to take his very profitable enterprise public and his sister doesn’t like it.
Ho has already raised almost $500 million for his Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings last week through a small scale public offering. On Thursday, for the first time ever, the company will appear on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Stanley Ho’s younger sister, Winnie, isn’t pleased with the idea. She feels that by allowing the gambling company to go public and have a spot on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange it gives the appearance that the government is somehow supporting gambling among the citizens. Perhaps she doesn’t realize that online gaming is big business in the UK these days. Perhaps she doesn’t know how many UK customers it has taken to make her brother the very wealthy man that he is today.
There was a time when gambling took place in Monte Carlo, several cities in the USA, and few other places in the world. Online gambling is now a large-scale pastime in the UK as well. The convenience of using a home computer rather than having to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to try your luck is a considerable draw for people from all over the UK.
Stanley Ho had a good reason for wanting to go public. He hopes to be able to compete successfully with the newer Macau market for the billions of gambling dollars that change hands every week. After building his small empire, he wants to increase it and grow with the expanding world gambling market. Who can blame him?
Winnie, on the other hand, seems to think that keeping the gambling off the Stock Market will change something or improve the impression that online gaming is acceptable. Keeping her brother from taking the business public won’t change anything but their family finances. Depriving UK gamers from using Mr. Ho’s online casinos will solve nothing and make the potential customers go elsewhere for their entertainment.

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