Born in
Hong Kong during British colonial rule, he was of Chinese, Dutch-Jewish and English ancestry. On his paternal side, Ho was descended from his great-grandfather, Charles Henry Maurice Bosman, who was of
Dutch Jewish ancestry, and his Chinese mistress Sze Tai (施娣), a local
Bao'an (present-day
Shenzhen and Hong Kong) woman. His grandfather was
Ho Fook (何福), brother of the merchant Sir
Robert Ho Tung, his grandmother was Lucy Rothwell and his father was (何世光). His maternal grandfather was another first-generation
Eurasian, , 冼德芬), the son of British businessman Stephen Prentis Hall.. His mother was Flora Hall (Sin, 冼興雲)
Education Ho studied at
Queen's College, Hong Kong, at which he attended Class D - the lowest class level in the then Hong Kong Class System - owing to unsatisfactory academic results. However, he later received a scholarship to the
University of Hong Kong. He became the first student from Class D to be granted a university scholarship. His university studies were cut short by the outbreak of
World War II in 1942. Following the
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Ho moved to Macau.
Career , owned by STDM Ho began clerical work at a Japanese-owned import-export firm in Macau. He made his first fortune smuggling luxury goods and food In 1943 he set up a
kerosene company and established a construction company with his money. Ho, along with partners including Hong Kong tycoon
Henry Fok, Macau gambler
Yip Hon and his brother-in-law
Teddy Yip, bid for Macau franchises. By bidding high and promising to promote tourism and to develop infrastructure, they won the public tender for Macau's gaming monopoly license in 1961, for US$410,000, of which US$51,000 was provided by Henry Fok. defeating the long-time Macau casino barons, the Fu family, by
MOP 17,000. In 1961 the company was renamed
Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A.R.L. (STDM). In late 1962, Ho opened the Estoril Hotel, Macau's first luxury casino resort. Through a subsidiary,
TurboJET, it owns one of the world's largest fleets of high-speed jetfoils, which ferry passengers between Hong Kong and Macau. In the 1980s, Ho pioneered the practice of subcontracting private gambling rooms in his casinos to independent agents. Ho was named by the
Canadian Government, citing the
Manila Standard newspaper, as having a link to the Kung Lok
Triad (Chinese mafia) and as being linked to "several illegal activities" during the period 1999–2002. Ho's alleged ties to Chinese organized crime have also been reported by the
New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, citing a
U.S. Senate committee and several government agencies, when the state investigated his ties to American casino operator
MGM Mirage. == Positions held ==