Stanley Ho flapping mad as Macau sinks ferry monopoly
Spare a thought for King Stanley for having too many fingers in the casino pie.
On Wednesday, Stanley Ho Hung-sun bared his teeth on television over the loss of another monopoly - his ferry franchise. He slammed the Macau government for lacking a 'fair, just and open' process in granting ferry licences to two rivals, including the Venetian Macao.
An hour before calling a media conference to air his grievance, his fourth wife Angela Leong On-kei, a Macau legislator, fired shots at Secretary for the Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak-yuen for his favouritism towards foreign operators.
Worsening the Ho family's plight was Macau's new law banning slot machine halls in residential areas, threatening Prince Lawrence's Mocha Club, the city's largest one-armed bandit operator. (Maybe Mocha could contemplate becoming a coffee franchise!)
As much as we like what Mr Ho has been doing for the Las Vegas of the East, we sincerely hope for more competition in the ferry business.