Sheldon Adelson, founder of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire, passed away in the early hours of January 12 at age 87, a victim of cancer. Considered the second most important tycoon in the history of gaming in Macau, after Stanley Ho, Adelson is remembered as “a visionary” in the development of Cotai, transforming an area of Macau that was viewed by many with some scepticism. “If we do things differently, success follows us like a shadow,” he said in 2014 during a conference in Las Vegas.
Son of Jewish immigrants and raised with two brothers on a Boston farm in the United States, Sheldon Adelson became one of the richest men in the world. Although his early wealth was earned in the United States, it was through his investments in Macau that his fortune increased exponentially in the latter years of his life. In 2020, Macau casinos generated 63 percent of the company’s total revenue of US$13.7 billion, followed by its Singapore operations, which represented 22 percent of last year’s revenue, and with revenue from the US operations following behind.
“Adelson represented the true definition of a pioneer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. We will never forget his contributions to Macau’s development, which go back to his courageous vision of creating the Cotai banner,” reads Sands China’s press release following the company president’s passing.
The company also highlighted Adelson’s contributions to the tourism industry with the opening of Sands Macao in 2004, the first foreign operated casino in Macau after the liberalisation of the gaming industry in 2001. However, it was The Venetian Macao that was the real ‘game changer’, squarely focusing all attention on Cotai, the reclaimed strip of land between Taipa and Coloane island, that many believed was not likely to be a successful site for mega integrated resorts.
“Even after the completion of the properties, Adelson remained steadfast in his desire to continue investing in Macau. Our hearts go out to the missed opportunity to enjoy his charisma, charm and pride in opening The Londoner, but it comforts us to know that his spirit will surely be present in revealing the latest manifestation of his bold vision, a vision reinforced by his resolute trust in Macau and its people,” the Sands China press release further states.
Leonel Alves was a lawyer for Sands China and worked closely with Adelson for a time. He remembers Adelson as a “very perceptive” man with a “very clear vision of what the company could do”. Regarding the contribution of the gaming magnate to Macau, Alves considers that his work at the helm of Sands China imprinted “another dynamic on the gaming industry”, having been “a pioneer in this new phase of development”, he indicates, in reference to the post-liberalization period of the gaming industry in the region.
Alves says he always considered the American to be a “very modern” businessman with a “bold vision”. He recalls working with Adelson throughout the 2008 financial crisis: “I saw that he really had a lot of courage and was a real visionary”. As for the possible impact of Adelson’s death on the future of the company, Alves says it won’t cause any major disruptions. “The company is well structured, it already works in its own way,” he says.
A revolutionary of MICE
“We lost a businessman who had an extraordinary career. He became very well known for the way he developed the convention sector, the MICE sector, as it is commonly called in Las Vegas,” comments Jorge Godinho, a lawyer and academic specialising in the gaming industry. “He arrived in the gaming sector with all the experience he had acquired in the convention sector, and then he knew how to incorporate the whole aspect of shopping centers very well in the construction of integrated resorts”.
Adelson was a person who “thought big”, adds Godinho, recalling that, in the early stages, “nobody really wanted to go to Cotai”, including Stanley Ho. “Where others hesitated, Sheldon Adelson did not, and he had the vision that in that space it was possible to do something big. Today, all this seems very obvious to us, but at the time it wasn’t”.
The American tycoon soon followed up on his success in Macau with a massive investment in Singapore – Marina Bay Sands – which ended up having a great impact on the region.
“There were jurisdictions that were following Macau’s development, and when Singapore began, the doubts were dispelled. Sheldon Adelson is responsible for the modern Asian gaming industry as we know it. Its properties are the largest, they’re mass market oriented, with very large shopping malls, large casinos, hotels with hundreds of rooms – all of this was the work of someone who played very strong cards, and did it without fear,” Godinho stresses.


Asked what impact Adelson’s passing might have on the future renewal of the company’s gaming concession in Macau, the university professor says the answer to this question will only be found “with the government.” However, Godinho stresses that Sheldon Adelson’s work has resulted in a “radical renewal” with great impact on the development of the exhibition and convention sector, laying the groundwork for the expansion of the non-gaming segment where the Venetian “is a leader”.
“And that is the basis for all modern discussions about the future of concessions, to what extent a non-gaming component may be required in view of the development that has occurred. When the time for concession renewal comes, this will be a central issue, gaming versus non-gaming, and on the basis of the progress that has taken place, it is evident what The Venetian has achieved”.
Detail oriented and excellent negotiator
Melina Leong, former vice president of the public relations department at Sands China, describes Adelson as “a visionary,” pointing to the work achieved on the Cotai Strip: “I don’t think there was anyone else with this ambition for the Cotai Strip.”
Leong worked alongside Adelson for over a decade and also recalls the founder of Sands China as “a person focused on details.”
“For a person who ran such a large company, you wouldn’t expect him to worry about the details, but he would always surprise us and ask us about details we wouldn’t believe that someone of his status would ask,” points out Melina, also the former operations director of Cotai Ferry.
“I remember in the beginning, with the arrival of the new operators in Macau; at first he showed that he had a great desire to do something different and great in Macau,” says lawyer Rui Cunha, highlighting the developments on Cotai: “Just go to Cotai and see the great work that he has left behind. He was certainly one of the people who contributed the most” to the transition of Macau’s gaming industry from a monopoly to more open market competition.
Gaming Law specialist Óscar Madureira points out that Sheldon Adelson was “an individual with a very strong personality” and with fixed ideas, which gave him a style of negotiating that Macau had not previously seen: “He was very upfront, in permanent confrontation, a very American style”. This made him an “excellent negotiator”.
“Adelson anticipated that Macau would be a great business for his company” and he knew how to “look at the Cotai area and idealize what it could become”, unlike the other operators, who devalued the landfills and “neglected the importance” of that area. This is Adelson’s main legacy Madureira believes.
On the other hand, Madureira recalls that it was also Adelson who created the first exhibition and convention centers in Macau. “Besides creating the Cotai Strip, he also developed this business area that helped to diversify Macau’s economy,” adds the gaming law specialist.
“In the second phase of the gambling industry in Macau – post liberalization – he was an important equivalent, if not superior, to Stanley Ho, as he introduced a new business model and brought a lot of new things to Macau,” notes Madureira, underscoring that the founder of Sands always believed in the mass market, having developed his ‘resorts’ specifically for this segment.
Lawyer Pedro Cortés defines Sheldon Adelson as “one of the great names in the industry” who helped change Macau after 2002, just like Steve Wynn. “Less than a year after Stanley Ho, another visionary has died, someone who they called a ‘lunatic’ when he built The Venetian in Las Vegas, after he revolutionized the industry by building the Convention Center next to the historic Sands, which in the meantime gave way to The Venetian,” he notes.
The lawyer has no doubt that Adelson “transformed” Cotai with a vision that others doubted, also leaving his “indelible mark” in Singapore with the construction of Marina Bay Sands. “We are left with the legacy of a true visionary and revolutionary of the industry, along with others like Cliff Jones, Phil Ruffin, Kirk Kerkorian, Jay Sarno, Sam Boyd and Steve Wynn. Macau owes much to what it has become to Mr. Sheldon Adelson, who received double what he gave to the region,” he concludes.
In the opinion of António Vilela, former advisor to the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Adelson was “the visible face of the liberalization” of the gaming industry in Macau. “Nobody believed and nobody put their money on Cotai development,” Vilela says. “He was the first one to develop Cotai and he was the one who had the vision to realize that Cotai was the ideal place to be, and he was the first one to arrive,” he stresses.
Vilela also believes that the death of Sands’ founder will have no impact on the company: “These kinds of companies transcend the dominant partner. The companies continue to operate within the same logic, regardless of whether the dominant partner is present or not”. In the opinion of the lawyer, it is the president’s wife, Miriam Adelson, who should now “take the reins of the participation that her husband had” in the company, since “she is a person who is inside the company’s affairs”.
Upon the passing of her husband, Miriam Adelson released a note with a farewell message to him. “Together we sailed the oceans, we set back the Pearl River Delta to help develop the future of Macau,” she says. “Sheldon was the love of my life. He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism and entrepreneurship. He was my soul mate.”
“For Sheldon, the recognition of his own indispensable role was not important. What counted was that good was done. He was concerned with defending what was right, even if it meant standing alone,” recalls Mrs Adelson, adding that “Sheldon had power and depth and mystery like the sea.”
After his death, “the waters of support disappeared to the sky. The loss is colossal,” laments Mrs Adelson, saying goodbye: “After you gave so much, you won this rest”.