Sheldon Adelson‘s Horatio Alger success story came to an abrupt end today, when the Boston Globe broke the news of his death from lymphoma at age 87. Adelson had a good run in the industry, longer than most, and his career—despite a costly money-laundering scandal—was never tripped up the kind of ethical failings that brought contemporaries Steve Wynn and J. Terrence Lanni low. He outlasted all his major competitors on the Strip and successfully steered Las Vegas Sands through two recessions, among myriad other accomplishments. But his reign in Las Vegas as the doge of Venelazzo was not without taint, local, national and international. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Reactions to Adelson’s passing were quick to roll in. The American Gaming Association, with which he had been sometimes at odds, issued the following statement from President Bill Miller, which read in part, “I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Adelson for more than 15 years, long before joining the American Gaming Association … It is his leadership and generosity that stand out the most to me. There’s no greater example of this than serving his community and prioritizing his employees’ well-being during the last year as our country and industry grappled with the global pandemic … may his memory be a blessing.”
I never have understood Adelson showering money on Donald Trump when clearly the Trump coalition plays footsie with Anti-Semitic people, I guess he figured that Trump was worth it… When you march for causes sometimes the folks marching next to you are people you consider creepy, I marched for years for medical marijuana in California, sometimes I was accompanied by people who I loathe, and vice versa… No way the Founding Fathers would have approved of one man spending hundreds of millions of dollars on elections and causes, Adelson was the poster boy for getting rid of Citizens United, one vote-one person… We shall see if the Venetian gets sold now…
Balanced and informative.
Great write up on Sheldon Adelson, I agree with Mr. Park’s comment. Both Jeff Simpson and John L. Smith were/are very good writers. Mr. Smith’s book about Bob Stupak entitled No Limit: The Rise and Fall of Bob Stupak and Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Tower was fantastic. Stupak’s casino Vegas World (which was replaced by the Stratosphere) was old and run down but also lots of fun.
The Venetian Hotel and Casino was the first casino to cater to conventioneers when it opened in 1999 and Mr. Adelson knew that conventioneers would spend lots of money in bars and restaurants with unlimited expense accounts. Because of the success of the Sands Expo Center soon after that Mandalay Bay built a huge convention center just south of its property.