Venetian Macau was the key to Sheldon Adelson’s becoming the wealthiest casino executive ever.
Sheldon Adelson made $1.7 billion this past week. The CEO of Las Vegas Sands is now worth $34.9 billion, according to the real-time rankings of the world’s billionaires compiled by Forbes.
The latest Forbes list has Sheldon Adelson as the 18th-richest person in the world. His net worth is greater than any other gaming executive on the planet. In fact, he is the richest casino magnate in history.
Macau Revenues up 23%
Most of the growth in Sheldon Adelson’s portfolio came from the Macau gaming niche, which has been the key to Las Vegas Sands Corp’s growth over the past 10 years.
LVS owns Venetian Macau, the highest generating casino on the Cotai Strip, and Parisian Macau, a multi-billion dollar integrated resort which opened in September 2016.
This past week, Las Vegas Sands shared increased 7%. The share price rose mostly between Wednesday and Friday, after LVS released a monthly report showing a 23% increase in gaming revenue from May 2016 to May 2017. Adelson owns over half of the LVS stock.
Sheldon Adelson: American Success Story
The 83-year old Sheldon Adelson was one of the big American success stories of the second half of the 20th century. Adelson was born and raised in poverty in Boston‘s Dorchester neighborhood.
Adelson entered the US Army in the Korean War era, then returned home to get a job selling ads. Sheldon Adelson made his first fortune as one of the first condo developers in New England. He moved from condos to hotel development, which naturally led Adelson into casino development.
As late as the 1990s, Sheldon Adelson was seen as a second-tier casino executive on the Las Vegas Strip. He feuded with Steve Wynn, though the two have become solid friends and allies in recent years. It was their separate forays into Macau which helped both men reach the next level of success.
Venetian Macau’s Amazing Ascent
When Macau was handed over from the Portuguese government to the Chinese government in 1999, it already was a casino enclave. China made Macau a special administrative district, just as it had with Hong Kong in 1997. Because Macau was given a certain level of local autonomy, it was able to house a casino industry like the sovereign tribal casinos in the United States. Under that system, China could ban casino gambling on the mainland, while allowing its residents to visit Macau for casino gambling.
China allowed a small number of casino companies to operate in Macau, including Chinese companies like Galaxy Entertainment and Melco (formerly Melco Crown). At the same time, it allowed three Las Vegas casino companies to develop casinos: MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands Corp. Sheldon Adelson built the Venetian Macau, which became the most lucrative casino in the most lucrative gambling destination in the world. At its height, Macau generated 7 times the gaming revenue of Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Sands Court Cases
Sheldon Adelson’s ascent has not been without controversy. Las Vegas Sands paid $16 million in fines to the “willfully failed to implement internal accounting controls” in 2016 and 2017 for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He was involved in a lawsuit by the former head of Sands China, claiming LVS engaged in bribery and other corrupt practices.
Political Contributor and Activist
With his massive new wealth, Sheldon Adelson has become a force in American and Israeli politics. Adelson spent $90 million or more to support Republican politicians in the 2012 US presidential election cycle, while spending between $45 million and $80 million on GOP candidates in the 2016 US presidential campaign. He also owns the Israel Hayom, a free publication which has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Israel. With Israel Hayom, Adelson is a key voice for the right wing Likud Party and a hardline stance toward Iran.
In the United States, his major issue has been a 50-state ban on online gambling. Sheldon Adelson claims online gambling is dangerous for problem gamblers and underage children, so he wants to protect players with a federal ban on Internet gambling. His critics claim Adelson wants to eliminate a potential threat to his land-based casino revenues. Despite bankrolling CGIS and several Republican congressmen’s campaigns, his Restore America’s Wire Act legislation never received traction on Capitol Hill.
Adelson’s Global Gaming Empire
The added billions should give Sheldon Adelson a leg-up in expanding his global casino empire. Las Vegas Sands has proposed building a $10 billion casino resort in Japan, either in Tokyo and Osaka. LVS wants to develop an $8 billion casino in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
