Casino mogul pays $330,000 for white truffles

Well known casino mogul, Stanley Ho, made headlines yet again this week after an extravagant purchase of the most unusual kind. Ho, who made his fortune with an empire of casinos in based in Macau, made a winning bid of $330,000 for a pair of highly coveted white truffles at a charity auction held last Saturday at the Grand Lisboa hotel. The bid took onlookers by surprise and was made via representatives of Ho's giant company, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau. The auction featured participation from bidders locating in all parts of the world with representatives from Rome and London communicating via a satellite link.

White truffles are one of the most highly prized and expensive of Italian delicacies and are sourced from Langhe in the Piedmont region of northern Italy close to the city of Alba. Italian restaurants are known to use this highly prized, aromatic ingredient sparingly – serving up delicious shavings on their pasta for truly jaw dropping prices.

The extraordinary gesture matches the billionaire's 2025 purchase in which Ho is reported to have spent 330,000 for a single white Tuscan truffle weighing a massive 3.3 pounds. This year's event will see the mogul take home another Tuscan treasure weighing two pounds as well as a Molise truffle weighing approximately 14 ounces. The event, attending by truffle enthusiasts across the globe, saw a total of sixteen lots of white truffles go under the hammer and was responsible for raising a total sum of $373,500 for numerous charities located throughout Macau, Britain and Italy.