Sheldon Adelson has passed away due to cancer-related treatments. On Tuesday, casino operator Las Vegas Sands announced that at the age of 87, Adelson has breathed his last. He was undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The company last week announced that Adelson was taking medical leave, the second time since his diagnosis of cancer in 2019.
Adelson became a name in the world of casinos during his life journey. He purchased faded Sands Hotel in Las Vegas and founded Las Vegas Sands in 1989. Coming from a very humble background, Adelson is often credited with bringing the integrated resort casino model, relaying non-gaming amenities particularly MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conferences, and Events). This was to bring guests who would mosey on to the game flooring.
Sands eventually went on to become the world’s largest casino operator with properties in the US, Singapore, and Macau. Adelson chose the Cotai region in Singapore to build the facility, a swampy area then. However, that area turned into the most impressive gambling places in the country later. This established his credential as a visionary.
Adelson became one of the wealthiest people in the world. His exemplary actions were also seen during the pandemic when he chose to pay the staff of Sands despite the casinos were shut down during the pandemic.
However, he also spent millions on political causes. He would spend for the candidates who would support his cause like the support of Israel and the war against online gambling. Even though online gambling did not stop but it certainly slowed down. Currently, the courts are resolving the challenges of Wire Act definitions launched by the Trump administration.
Adelson said that his anti-online stance was a moral issue. He had the unsubstantiated belief that online gambling is more addictive than land-based casinos. He even suggested that pushing online gambling is as bad as legalizing heroin or cocaine.
However, he lacked the digital knowledge of the modern world. Sands caught and penalized multiple times for serving alcohol to underage people in the properties. He claimed that it is impossible to filter out underage gamblers in online gambling.
He lost his son to a drug overdose in 2005 and campaigned against legalizing marijuana. However, his company was fined $47.4mn in 2013 for failing to recognize an alleged financial transfer of a Mexican Methamphetamine dealer’s $85mn.
It was recently revealed that after years of denying and campaigning against it, the Sands was finally taking steps to venture into the world of online gambling.
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