'Underground governor' wielded the real power

Before the Macau handover in 1999, Stanley Ho was often referred to as the enclave's 'underground governor'.

His gaming empire accounted for half of its economy. As Macau legislator Au Kam-san said, Macau people used to think there were two governors. 'One was the governor appointed by the Portuguese government and the other was Stanley Ho.'

Even since his four-decade Macau gambling monopoly was broken in 2001, Ho has had a finger in almost every business pie in the special administrative region and his commercial interests dominate its economy.

Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) is still the city's biggest commercial employer, hiring more than 10,000 people. It accounts for about 5 per cent of Macau's workforce.

Ho's blessing was virtually a necessity for anyone seeking the post of Macau chief executive. He gave his support to the first chief executive, Edmund Ho Hau-wah, and his successor, Fernando Chui Sai-on.

The ageing mogul's ties with Beijing date back to the early 1950s, when he and late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung shipped machinery, medicine and other vital supplies to the mainland while an international trade embargo was imposed on China during the Korean war.