Stanley Ho turned Macau from a dotted peninsula dotted with gambling piles into a casino capital of the world, but advised relatives not to gamble.

Stanley Ho (Ha Hong San) on May 26 died at the age of 98, leaving the casino empire to make him one of the richest people in Asia for decades.

Mr. Ha was born in Hong Kong in 1921 to a wealthy Chinese and European family.

Mr. Ha received a scholarship to the University of Hong Kong but dropped out because of World War II.

"I earned 10 Hong Kong dollars in 7 days, then I went to Macau," he said.

Macau was then a colony of Portugal and maintained Portuguese neutrality during World War II.

Mr. Ha started building the casino empire in the early 1960s. His Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) was given the exclusive right to run a casino in Macau in 1961, by promising the colonial government.

STDM prospered in the 1980s when many wealthy people in mainland China flocked to Mr. Ha's songs.

In a written statement to the New York Times in 2007, Mr. Ha did not deny the allegations but said that in the 1980s and 1990s, "anyone in the gambling industry was so susceptible to such allegations".

Mr. Ha's casino monopoly ended in 2001, two years after Macau was handed over to China.

Adelson, president of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, once predicted that Ha's empire would soon be over.

In fact, the competition has prompted Ha Hong San to modernize its operation and build new luxury casino hotels.

SJM Holdings, the casino management company of STDM, operates 20 casinos in Macau.

"He is the type of person who does not accept defeat," said Ricardo Pinto, owner of Macau Closer magazine, in 2007. Mr. Ha also said: "I like challenges and never accept the answer 'no'.

However, sometimes the opponent comes from within the family.

In March 2011, Mr. Ha withdrew his complaint, announcing that the dispute had been resolved separately.

Tycoons often travel between Hong Kong and Macau by helicopter.

However, the king of casinos does not gamble.

"I always tell my children and good friends: Don't spend a lot of money on gambling and, if possible, never gamble," he said in 1999.