Sheldon Adelson is so busted

Congratulations, Sheldon Adelson! You’ve just upped your street cred — and become the butt of 1,001 pimp jokes. Is the Las Vegas Sands CEO going to start hangin’ with Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent (or maybe Eliot Spitzer and Hugh Grant) after the big prostitution bust that went down in the wee hours of this morning? Over a five-hour period, the Macau Judiciary Police swept the Asian version of Sheldon’s Place with a dragnet that ensnared 11o alleged ladies of the evening and 22 accused pimps. The working girls were having to fork over to their mack daddies the equivalent of $128.65 for the privilege of walking the streets of Adelson’s mock-Venice. It’s common knowledge that this sort of thing goes on all the time at Stanley Ho‘s seedy casinos.

One expected better from Adelson. Hong Kong-based casino analyst Aaron Fischer dryly notes that this won’t quite square with Sands’ MICE-driven business model: “They have been trying to attract convention visitors and family visitors. This does not encourage visitation by that kind of crowd.” On the other hand, the philandering-husband customer segment just shot up.

Levity aside, the fact of the raid itself is less significant than its timing, which just happened to coincide with a visit by the man Jon Ralston calls Gondolier Numero Uno. A Sands China spokeswoman of admirable composure somehow managed to keep a straight face while telling Agence France Presse “Adelson’s visit was unconnected to the raid.” (With 14 corporate aircraft at his disposal, at least Adelson is assured of a pimpin’ ride wherever he goes.) From his standpoint, probably not. However …

Isn’t it convenient for the Macanese government that its 5-0s were rolling up right quick on Sheldon’s crib just days after City Hall had retaken title to Cotai Strip™ Sites 7 & 8, kneecapping Adelson’s master plan for “Asia’s Las Vegas™“. Sands, per its fiduciary duty, is certain to appeal that ruling — a task that just got a lot harder now that Macao officials can paint Venetian Macao as the world’s largest den of iniquity. Also working in Adelson’s disfavor is the revelation earlier this year that one of his subleased VIP rooms was not only partially owned by run by a Triad member. (The alleged hookers who were allegedly hooking at Sheldon’s Place East were allegedly under the control of an alleged “syndicate,” a favored euphemism for “Triad.”)

Writing in The Standard, Serinah Ho toed the party line: “The government should maintain social order and healthy development of its casinos. It should also strive to develop Macau into a place of leisure and to attract not only gamblers, but also non-gamblers and families to visit the place.” Hmmmm … funny but that’s what Chinese officials have been uttering these last few weeks. Another remarkable coincidence!

Macanese legislator Au Kam-san opted for the faux-naif route, saying prostitution was uncommon in his city, although he did throw Stanley Ho under the bus while he was at it. Sounds like the Venetian crackdown is the leading edge of a wider cleanup of Macao’s image, in line with Peking‘s desire to diminish the enclave’s perception as “Asia’s Las Vegas™”, an Adelsonian coinage of which the powers that be seem not so fond.

(In retrospect: Is Adelson still having “the last laugh” on Steve Wynn?)

While this is clearly a case of selective prosecution, designed to let Adelson know who’s boss in China, that may not be enough to get him off the hook back home. S&G called the Nevada Gaming Control Board but all its members were en route to an undisclosed destination, so one doesn’t know if l’affaire Macau will be sufficient to put Sands in their cross-hairs. However, casino operators can be sanctioned for bringing disrepute on the industry, so Adelson should set some money aside for paying near-inevitable fines. Harsh allegations made by fired Sands CEO Steven Jacobs might get a second look, too. It will be interesting to see what, if any, reaction this gets in Singapore and Pennsylvania (where Adelson operates) or in states like Massachusetts or Texas (where he’d like to). Serious PR damage control is in order, to say the least. Oh, and forget about Sites 7 & 8 while you’re at it. You have been punk’d.

Speaking of cleaning house, incoming Nevada governor Brian Sandoval is making it clear that appointees of Gov. Jim Gibbons (left) won’t be welcome in his administration. A quartet of high-ranking officials who have either been terminated or have fallen on their swords includes Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander (who falls into the second category) and NGCB member Randall Sayre, who finds himself among the sacked. Sayre was, through no fault of his own, the focus of the scandal that gave Midnight Jim Gibbons his nickname. Gentleman Jim had himself sworn into office mere seconds into New Year’s Day 2007 in a midnight ceremony that played more like a satanic ritual. Gibbons’ purpose—about which he initially dissembled—was to void two Kenny Guinn appointments to the NGCB. Neilander was quickly reprieved but a Guinn crony was replaced with Sayre in a petty feud from which nobody emerged with a shiny escutcheon.

Neilander has rightly been kvetching about the NGCB’s budget, which hasn’t been raised since Steve Wynn opened The Mirage, so he may not have wanted to stick around to see Sandoval whittle it down even further. Sayre, aside from having the bad luck of being a Gibbons appointee also is pushing for a more stringent regulatory stance on Internet-gambling involvement and (or so I heard at Global Gaming Expo) additional Privé-style shenanigans in Las Vegas. Apparently “drug use, prostitution, underage drinking and assault” are not-uncommon occurrences in Sin City nightclubs, but Sayre’s efforts to get fellow NGCB members to take a hard line were met with resistance … or so’s the scuttlebutt. If Sandoval is sending any sort of message here, it’s a loud and clear, “Party on, dudes!”