A Lottery Win Maid to Order

I love it when the winds of fate play their little games now and then, especially when there’s a good ending.  For those of you familiar with the gambling industry in Asia, the number one name that pops into mind when thinking of a character that represents this market is Stanley Ho. With an estimated fortune of over a $1 billion and considered the richest man in the gambling mecca of the east, Macau, the 85 year old Ho is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

One of Ho’s claims to fame is that he has managed to marry four times over. His first wife died but he is currently married to three others, the latest being Angela Leong who has – it is reported – substantial control over his wealth and business affairs. And so it becomes incredibly ironic when the maid of the Leong household in Hong Kong, a lowly worker from Malaysia, found herself the winner of a massive fortune of her own this week.

The maid has been employed in the home for over a decade and brought up Leong’s eldest daughter, Sabrina Ho Chi-ying since she was an infant. To celebrate her birthday, the woman decided to treat herself to a Hong Kong lottery ticket at the urging of her employer’s family. Imagine her absolute  shock when she learned that she had won the lottery jackpot worth HK$ 30 million (around $5 million). The Mark Six lottery ticket is a popular form of gambling for locals and is known to pay out generously to lucky winners.

 Despite her newfound fortune, the maid – who has preferred to remain unnamed – will continue to work in the mansion, probably due to the fact that it has become her new home, and she has become rather attached to the little girl in her charge. But it will certainly be a whole different ball game for her, knowing that she can retire at whim if the Lady of the House doesn’t treat her well! I would be interested to see what Mr. Ho thinks of his fortune rubbing off on one of his wives’ employees…