[6] Later named chairman and CEO, Ho refocused the company on leisure and entertainment,[4] building and operating casino resorts in Macau, the Philippines, and Cyprus.

[7] With an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion,[1] he was named "Asia’s Best CEO" at the Asian Excellence Awards for the seventh time in 2018.

[8] Born in Hong Kong from a Eurasian business family, Lawrence Ho was educated in Canada and graduated from the University of Toronto.

[6][11] In September 1999[12] Ho began working in investment banking,[3] first at Jardine Fleming's[5] Asia Derivatives Group[13] and then at Citibank.

[13] After purchasing a 26 percent majority stake,[13] in November 2001 Ho was appointed the group managing director of Melco International Development Limited.

[18] Ho and Packer began partnering with SM Investments in 2012 on the $1 billion casino resort City of Dreams Manila,[19] which opened in 2015 in the Philippines.

[20] In the summer of 2012, the government of the Primorye Integrated Entertainment Zone in Vladivostok, Russia invited Ho to bid on a new casino project.

[3] With 60% ownership,[7] in October 2015 Melco opened the casino resort Studio City Macau, which was designed with a Hollywood theme and cost $3.2 billion.

[8] After a year-long bidding process,[23] in 2017[24] the Cyprus government awarded Melco the first and only casino license in the country, which granted exclusivity for 15 years.

[7] After Japanese lawmakers pushed for legalized gambling in integrated resorts in 2016,[19] by 2017 Ho was actively competing[26] for one of an expected three licenses.

[28] The following year he was named one of the “100 Most Influential People across Asia Pacific” by Asiamoney,[27] and in 2008 he received the “China Charity Award” from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

[6] In 2009 Ho was named both “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” at the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards and one of the “Top Ten Financial and Intelligent Persons in China" by the Beijing Cultural Development Study Institute and Fortune Times.