Sure, being the daughter of Macau’s casino king has had its perks. But Pansy Ho — gaming magnate, property tycoon, budding airline mogul and up-and-coming heir apparent to ageing father Stanley Ho’s multi-billion-dollar gaming empire — has perhaps had more to prove as a result of that kinship.Last month, Pansy Ho, 45, shot into the spotlight after the $1.25 billion MGM Grand Macau, which she runs with MGM Mirage Inc, opened in Macau on the heels of Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands and Steve Wynn’s Wynn Resorts.

Deemed one of Asia’s most powerful businesswomen, Ho is a director of her father’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, whose flagship gaming arm, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau Holdings (SJM), has had to put off a US$1 billion initial public offer because of this year’s stock market turmoil.

Lately, the executive who earned a degree in marketing and business from the University of Santa Clara has focused increasingly on her role as managing director of MGM Grand Paradise, just down the road from her father’s iconic Lisboa.

Last year, Pansy Ho jumped six spots to No. 36 on Fortune’s global list of the 50 most influential women in business. The high-profile MGM venture may propel her further up that ladder.

But that new casino symbolizes her father’s woes.

Stanley Ho’s once-indomitable empire shrank after his gaming monopoly ended in 2002, hemmed in by an influx of Vegas players, Hong Kong investors — and now global ventures helmed by his scions.

Lawrence Ho — Pansy’s brother, and another of the octogenarian Ho’s supposed favorites among his 17 children — teamed up with Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd to set up the Crown.

Pansy Ho’s own MGM Grand Paradise is plotting a $200 million expansion in a $10 billion market growing at double digits.

The Ho family has perhaps the biggest collective stake of all in Macau’s success. Pansy Ho remains close to her father — he joined her on stage at the opening of the MGM Grand — but the younger Ho seemed to want to shake the perception she’s “daddy’s girl”, finding that sometimes tough.

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