Macau at 10: Can Asia's Gambling Industry Continue to Thrive?

When Edmund Ho, Macau's first chief executive, assumed office on December 20, 1999, the former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong was a very different place. Hong Kong business mogul Stanley Ho had a monopoly on the region's sleepy gambling industry. The Triads, southern China's organized crime conglomerates, killed openly in the streets, and the economy was shrinking fast.