As pressure grows on Macau to find new reasons for revenue, scion of casino dynasty imagines a different future for that other SAR
Sabrina Ho Chiu-yeng is doing what she’ll to help Macau diversify. The 26-year-old daughter of Stanley Ho Hung-sun might be more well known for gracing society and entertainment pages, but also in January she organised the first Macau sales by China’s state-owned Poly Auction and also in November held her annual hotel art fair, having already launched an exhibition in promoting the work of young art graduates in September.
“Macau is beginning to change,” she tells The Collector. “We don’t want to rely just on the gaming industry. We want more families ahead for holidays, we would like to boost our cultural and creative industries.”
It is a politically correct view for that daughter of the casino magnate. Macau is in the cross hairs of Beijing’s fight against corruption and capital outflow. The central government started urging the city to give up its dependence on the gaming sector, the taxes from which pay for most public expenditures, back through the boom years, when the “build it and they’re going to come” mentality ruled the casino industry. Today, mainland policies to discourage high rollers joined with a slowing economy have risen the pressure to find new revenues.
Fundamental change may be slow ahead. Five casinos have opened since 2012 and much more are on the best way, including two from branches of 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 chiu yeng‘s half-sister Pansy Ho Chiu-king.
So may be Sabrina’s cultural endeavours all just a little of sentimental public relations for that clan?
Well, China’s biggest auction house is treating her seriously, and hopes her youthful energy and family connections will help it get into a fresh and wealthy market where no international house has a presence. In exchange, Ho says, she wants the auctions to help attract tourists and maybe let the city’s 600,000 residents to formulate a greater portion of a desire for culture. The partnership, called Poly Auction Macau, is 51 per-cent belonging to Poly as well as the rest by Ho’s company, Chiu Yeng Culture.
Ho grew up encompassed by art and other collectables belonging to her parents but she is new to angling for the auctions business. After graduating with an arts degree from your University of Hong Kong, in 2013, she worked on the branding and marketing side of the family’s hotel and property businesses. “But I like art i asked Poly if I perform part time at their Hong Kong office, to learn about the auction world,” she says.
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