( CNN ) -- Who would open one of the world 's biggest casinos in the depths of a global recession ? Big city dreams : Lawrence Ho 's business portfolio in Hong Kong and Macau is growing . Answer : Lawrence Ho , the scion of a casino business mogul who has clearly inherited his father 's love of a calculated risk . Ho 's father Stanley is a man synonymous with the creation of Macau as the world 's biggest gambling destination . `` Over the past 40 years he has put his thumbprints all over Macau . I think if you look at the major infrastructure projects , whether it 's the airport , the ferry terminals , he was involved in building up a lot of those , '' Lawrence Ho told CNN . But in opening City of Dreams in Macau earlier this year , Ho is trying to carve his own niche and continue to build up his own business empire . `` I think gone are the days when you can open a property and 'Bang ! ' you would steal significant market share from others , '' he told CNN . `` Before we opened we were , like the rest of the world , a little bit wary of the timing , but I think in hindsight the world economies are doing a lot better and Macau has seen its first year-on-year increase in July and August was a booming month . So I think all in all we could n't be happier . '' Ho 's company , Melco-Crown Entertainment , is independent from his father 's huge portfolio of businesses and the multibillion dollar City of Dreams project is a partnership with Australian James Packer , himself the son of a media tycoon . Ho is respectful of his ailing father 's achievements and the advantages that the family name has given him , but also the desire it fostered to forge his own success . `` The bigger the shadow the more we can feel the underdog syndrome . ... being his son opened many doors , but at the same time I grew up in a very big family with our own issues , but all in all certainly being his son has helped a great deal , '' he said . There are no worries about interference from the mainland -- `` I suspect that China definitely wants [ Macau and Hong Kong ] to do well '' -- and Ho remains positive that Asia will see the quickest recovery from the downturn . `` A lot of the Asian countries and economies have handled the [ economic ] crisis this time a lot better than the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago , '' he said . `` So I think , all in all , Asia has managed to come out of this much quicker than the rest of the world . And really when people are feeling better they travel and they spend more , and you know we are in the business of providing leisure and entertainment . ''
Son of Stanley Ho , business tycoon who built up former-Portuguese colony of Macau . Lawrence Ho recently open multi-billion dollar City of Dreams complex in Macau . Comment: