As pressure grows on Macau to find new options for revenue, scion of casino dynasty imagines an alternative future to the other SAR
Sabrina Ho Chiu-yeng does what she could to help Macau diversify. The 26-year-old daughter of Stanley Ho Hung-sun may be also known for gracing society and entertainment pages, but also in January she organised the 1st Macau sales by China’s state-owned Poly Auction and also in November held her very own annual hotel art fair, having already launched an exhibition in promoting the job of young art graduates in September.
“Macau is changing,” she tells The Collector. “We don’t wish to rely just on the gaming industry. We’d like more families ahead in charge of holidays, you want to boost our cultural and artistic industries.”
It is a politically correct view to the daughter of a casino magnate. Macau is in the cross hairs of Beijing’s war on corruption and capital outflow. The central government started urging the location to give up its dependence on the gaming sector, the taxes from where pay for most public expenditures, back during the boom years, in the event the “build it and they’ll come” mentality ruled the casino industry. Today, mainland policies to discourage high rollers combined with a slowing economy have increased pressure to find new revenues.
Fundamental change continues to be slow ahead. Five casinos have opened since 2012 plus more are saved to the way, including two from branches from the Ho empire – the Grand Lisboa Palace, led by Ho’s mother, Angela Leong On-kei (Stanley’s so-called “fourth wife”), and MGM Cotai, headed by Sabrina ho‘s half-sister Pansy Ho Chiu-king.
So might be Sabrina’s cultural endeavours all just a little of sentimental advertising to the clan?
Well, China’s biggest ah is treating her seriously, and hopes her youthful energy and family connections can help it break into a brand new and wealthy market where no international house includes a presence. In exchange, Ho says, she wants the auctions to help attract tourists as well as perhaps encourage the city’s 600,000 residents to formulate really an interest in culture. The partnership, called Poly Auction Macau, is 51 percent belonging to Poly along with the rest by Ho’s company, Chiu Yeng Culture.
Ho grew up in the middle of art along with other collectables belonging to her parents but she actually is fairly new to the auctions business. After graduating with the arts degree in the University of Hong Kong, in 2013, she handled the branding and marketing side from the family’s hotel and property businesses. “But I like art and that i asked Poly basically can perform in their free time within their Hong Kong office, to understand the auction world,” she says.
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