3355 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States
Sheldon Adelson arrives with his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson for the opening night of "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular" at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on June 24, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2007
New York City, NY, USA
Sheldon Adelson and Dr. Miriam Adelson attend the 2007 Birthright Israel Foundation Gala at the Hilton Grand Ballroom on December 11, 2007, in New York City. (Photo by Janette Pellegrini)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2007
HaNasi St 3 St, Jerusalem, Israel
Philanthropist Sheldon Adelson is seen during a ceremony in The Israeli President's house on August 12, 2007, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2008
3325 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States
Sheldon Adelson at The Palazzo Las Vegas, his newest casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, January 8, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr.)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2009
Jerusalem, Israel
Sheldon Adelson (L) hugs Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the swearing of a new government in the Knesset on March 31, 2009, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2012
Cotai Central Estrada do Istmo, n/n Cotai Shop 2002, Macao
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., speaks at a news conference during the opening of the Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau, China, on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Photographer: Jerome Favre
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2012
Cotai Central Estrada do Istmo, n/n Cotai Shop 2002, Macao
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., center, watches a traditional lion dance during the opening of the Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau, China, on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Photographer: Jerome Favre
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2014
300 Doheny Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90048, United States
Sheldon Adelson arrives at the Jewish Life Foundation's Salute To Hollywood Gala Benefiting Holocaust Educational Programming In Schools and On JLTV at The Four Seasons Hotel on June 8, 2014, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2014
201 Sands Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89169, United States
Sheldon Adelson speaks at the Exclusive Seminar: Keynote at the 14th Annual Global Gaming Expo at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on October 1, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Denise Truscello)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2014
9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, United States
(L-R) Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson, and honoree Dr. Anton Bilchik attend the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary's 29th Annual Odyssey Ball at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on April 5, 2014, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2015
Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, USA
Sheldon Adelson (R) applauds during a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill with his wife Miriam Adelson (C) and Marion Wiesel (L) March 2, 2015, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2016
Lote 3, Strip, SAR, P.R. China, Estr. do Istmo, Macao
Sheldon Adelson (R) and wife Miriam Adelson attend the Swarovski show during the Front Row at Shoppes at Parisian on September 14, 2016, in Macau, Macau. (Photo by Keith Tsuji)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2016
Lote 3, Strip, SAR, P.R. China, Estr. do Istmo, Macao
Sheldon Adelson (R) and wife Miriam Adelson attend the Swarovski show during the Front Row at Shoppes at Parisian on September 14, 2016, in Macau, Macau. (Photo by Anthony Kwan)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2016
160 Hagedorn Hall, Hempstead, NY 11549, United States
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Sands China Ltd., sits in the audience ahead of the first U.S. presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, U.S., on Monday, September 26, 2016. Photographer: Andrew Harrer
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2016
160 Hagedorn Hall, Hempstead, NY 11549, United States
Sheldon Adelson (L) and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence (R) attend the Presidential Debate between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016, in Hempstead, New York. (Photo by Joe Raedle)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Sheldon Adelson (L) arrives for the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Sheldon Adelson sits on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joe Raedle)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
(L-R) Tom Barrack, Miriam Adelson, and Sheldon Adelson greet U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2017
9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, United States
Sheldon Adelson attends the American Society for Yad Vashem and the Jewish Life Foundation's Salute To Hollywood Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 14, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2018
David Flusser St 14, Jerusalem
Sheldon Adelson (L) and his wife Miriam (R) arrive at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
Gallery of Sheldon Adelson
2020
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in an East Room event at the White House as Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Ochsorn look on January 28, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong)
3355 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States
Sheldon Adelson arrives with his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson for the opening night of "Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular" at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino on June 24, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller)
Sheldon Adelson and Dr. Miriam Adelson attend the 2007 Birthright Israel Foundation Gala at the Hilton Grand Ballroom on December 11, 2007, in New York City. (Photo by Janette Pellegrini)
Philanthropist Sheldon Adelson is seen during a ceremony in The Israeli President's house on August 12, 2007, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
3325 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States
Sheldon Adelson at The Palazzo Las Vegas, his newest casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, January 8, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr.)
Sheldon Adelson (L) hugs Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the swearing of a new government in the Knesset on March 31, 2009, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
Cotai Central Estrada do Istmo, n/n Cotai Shop 2002, Macao
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., speaks at a news conference during the opening of the Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau, China, on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Photographer: Jerome Favre
Cotai Central Estrada do Istmo, n/n Cotai Shop 2002, Macao
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., center, watches a traditional lion dance during the opening of the Sands Cotai Central resort in Macau, China, on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Photographer: Jerome Favre
300 Doheny Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90048, United States
Sheldon Adelson arrives at the Jewish Life Foundation's Salute To Hollywood Gala Benefiting Holocaust Educational Programming In Schools and On JLTV at The Four Seasons Hotel on June 8, 2014, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
Sheldon Adelson speaks at the Exclusive Seminar: Keynote at the 14th Annual Global Gaming Expo at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on October 1, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Denise Truscello)
9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, United States
(L-R) Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon Adelson, and honoree Dr. Anton Bilchik attend the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary's 29th Annual Odyssey Ball at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on April 5, 2014, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
Sheldon Adelson (R) applauds during a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill with his wife Miriam Adelson (C) and Marion Wiesel (L) March 2, 2015, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee)
Lote 3, Strip, SAR, P.R. China, Estr. do Istmo, Macao
Sheldon Adelson (R) and wife Miriam Adelson attend the Swarovski show during the Front Row at Shoppes at Parisian on September 14, 2016, in Macau, Macau. (Photo by Keith Tsuji)
Lote 3, Strip, SAR, P.R. China, Estr. do Istmo, Macao
Sheldon Adelson (R) and wife Miriam Adelson attend the Swarovski show during the Front Row at Shoppes at Parisian on September 14, 2016, in Macau, Macau. (Photo by Anthony Kwan)
160 Hagedorn Hall, Hempstead, NY 11549, United States
Sheldon Adelson, chairman, and chief executive officer of Sands China Ltd., sits in the audience ahead of the first U.S. presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, U.S., on Monday, September 26, 2016. Photographer: Andrew Harrer
160 Hagedorn Hall, Hempstead, NY 11549, United States
Sheldon Adelson (L) and Republican Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence (R) attend the Presidential Debate between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016, in Hempstead, New York. (Photo by Joe Raedle)
Sheldon Adelson (L) arrives for the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee)
(L-R) Tom Barrack, Miriam Adelson, and Sheldon Adelson greet U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla)
9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, United States
Sheldon Adelson attends the American Society for Yad Vashem and the Jewish Life Foundation's Salute To Hollywood Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on June 14, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg)
Sheldon Adelson (L) and his wife Miriam (R) arrive at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi)
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in an East Room event at the White House as Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam Ochsorn look on January 28, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong)
Sheldon Adelson is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. Adelson made his fortune in the casino and resort business. He is the billionaire chairman and majority shareholder of the world's largest casino operator, Las Vegas Sands. His company operates the Venetian in Las Vegas and the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, among others.
Background
Ethnicity:
Sheldon Adelson's father, Arthur, and was of Lithuanian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry, while his mother had Welsh and English roots.
Sheldon Adelson was born on August 4, 1933, into modest circumstances in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, to Sarah (née Tonkin) and Arthur Adelson. His father was a taxi driver and his mother ran a sewing shop. Sheldon grew up sleeping on the floor of his family’s Boston tenement, along with three other siblings.
Education
Sheldon Adelson attended the City College of New York, where he majored in corporate finance, but dropped out before completing the course. He then went to trade school in a failed attempt to become a court reporter. Later on, he joined the army.
Sheldon Adelson's career started out with a loan of $200 from his uncle at 12 years old, to sell newspapers on a busy city street corner. He also sold adverts in the trade press and worked as a court reporter to make a living. After serving in the United States Army, Adelson started businesses in such varied fields as mortgage banking, charter tour operation, and hotel toiletries. He was said to have made and lost large sums several times.
In the 1960s, he ventured into tourism and founded an enterprise that organized chartered tours. He made millions from his ventures, and by the late 1960s, he had made and unmade his fortune twice. In the early 1970s, he established the Interface Group, partnering with other entrepreneurs.
It wasn’t until he launched the computer industry trade show COMDEX, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, in 1979 that he truly hit the big time. The event became an annual feature in Las Vegas's calendar and was quite popular with the stalwarts of the computer industry. The exhibition changed Adelson's fortunes forever.
The trade show became one of the most attended in the world. By the 1980s, the event was being organized in other cities of the United States and in international locations, too. In the late 1980s, the show was opened to the general public. And in 1995, Adelson and his partners sold it along with other smaller shows to SoftBank for $862 million.
Adelson didn't get into the casino business until he was 55 years old. In 1989, Adelson and his partners bought the Sands Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas for $128 million. The following year, he and his partners, built what was the United States's only privately owned and managed convention center back then. It is also known as one of the largest convention centers in the country. In 1990 he opened the Sands Expo and Convention Center, one of the largest privately-owned convention centers in the United States, at a location near the hotel.
Inspired by Venice, Italy, where he honeymooned with his second wife in 1991, he decided to build a mega-resort hotel by replacing the Sands Hotel. Adelson demolished the Sands in 1996 and built in its place the towering Venetian Resort Hotel Casino (later called the Las Vegas Venetian), which opened in 1999. A themed hotel-casino like many others in the city, the Venetian came complete with its own Grand Canal and gondoliers.
It took two years and cost $1.5 billion to build The Venetian. To imitate Venice, Italy, Adelson ordered detailed renderings of the Doge's Palace, Rialto Bridge, and Campanile tower. He also enlisted the help of a historian from Venice who worked with the hotel's architects and interior designers. The Venezia Tower was added to the resort in 2003. The following year, the construction of the luxury hotel and casino resort The Palazzo at The Venetian began. It was opened 3 years later.
In 2004, Adelson opened the Sands Macau, which cost at least $265 million to build. It opened in 2004 as Asia's first American-style casino and went on to become extraordinarily successful. The Venetian Macao, modeled on the Venetian Las Vegas, opened in 2007, and several other casinos in the Macau region followed.
Macau soon surpassed Las Vegas as the world’s highest-grossing gambling center. In 2010 Las Vegas Sands opened the Marina Bay Sands, a large casino and hotel in Singapore. The Asian casinos and the Las Vegas Sands company’s initial public offering of shares in December 2004 propelled Adelson - at a fairly advanced age - into the ranks of the world’s wealthiest people.
In 2006, Adelson's company was granted a license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to build a casino resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States. He forayed into media in 2006, by co-founding the Hebrew newspaper Israeli, published by Israeli News Ltd, with its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel. However, the following year, he withdrew from the partnership due to differences. He then launched the newspaper Israel Hayom. Offering consistent support for Netanyahu and his conservative policies, Israel Hayom became the most widely circulated paper in the country.
After having earned the license to build a casino resort in Marina Bay, Singapore, he opened the Marina Bay Sands in 2010. In December 2015, he discreetly acquired the newspaper Las Vegas Review-Journal. The newspaper was among a handful of publications that endorsed Trump in the 2016 election.
Sheldon Adelson is a self-made billionaire who made his fortune through the creation of several highly-successful casinos in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore. He has set the bar high for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. On 25th March 2008, Sheldon and his wife Miriam were awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution.
He also got the Chairman’s award by the Nevada Policy Research Institute. In 2008 May, he was appointed to the honorary delegation that accompanied President George W. Bush to Israel. He was named to the CNBC list of 200 people who have transformed the business over the last 25 years.
Politics
In the early 1990s, Adelson began to cultivate strong political views. Until 1996, Sheldon Adelson was a supporter of the Democratic Party. He later switched to the Republican Party. He feels that the Republicans are more concerned with the welfare of the people than Democrats. He is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump and was one of the largest donors of the Trump campaign. Adelson has made at least $25 million in political contributions to Donald Trump, earning him the nickname Trump's Patron-in-Chief.
In the 2018 election cycle, Adelson and his wife were the top individual donors to federal candidates and campaigns, donating almost $124 million to Republican causes, mostly via super Political action committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Adelsons wrote checks amounting to $20 million during Trump's campaign and donated an extra $5 million for the inauguration festivities, according to ProPublica. It is reported that he will be donating $200 million to the Republican Party and Trump's election bid for 2020.
A strong supporter of Israel, Adelson began to involve himself in that country’s internal politics after his marriage to an Israeli woman, Miriam Ochshorn, in 1991. The main beneficiary of his largesse was the two-time prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Views
In 2006, Sheldon Adelson and his wife donated $25 million each to The Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas and Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem, Israel. The following year, he and his wife established the not-for-profit organization The Adelson Family Foundation.
His Adelson Family Charitable Foundation, established in 2007, donates hundreds of millions of dollars a year to a variety of organizations, including medical research, addiction clinics, and Birthright Israel, an organization that encourages Jewish identity by sending kids to tour Jerusalem. He is the sponsor of the private Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation based in Boston. Sheldon is identified as one of the world's most generous and influential Jewish Philanthropists.
Apart from strictly partisan politics, Adelson also spent heavily in support of the War on Drugs and in opposition to the legalization of online gambling.
Quotations:
"I’ll tell you the secret, but nobody ever follows it. Just do things differently. Just do things in life the way other people don’t do that. Change the status quo. And then you’ll succeed."
"I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it."
"Achievement is the motivation of entrepreneurs."
"I’m not in business to make money for the other guy. I’m in business to make money for myself."
"I look at every business and ask, How long can this last? How can I identify the status quo and change it?"
Personality
The casino magnate says he does like to gamble, but just for fun. His favorite game is blackjack, and when he's visiting a place where gambling is legal, he says, he'll "take $500 to $1,000 and go down to the casino and play." Adelson says he appreciates how technology is improving the casino business, but he doesn't text, email, or even use a computer.
Interests
blackjack
Politicians
Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, George W. Bush, Scott Brown, Tom Delay, Rudy Giuliani
Connections
Sheldon Adelson was married to his first wife, Sandra, until their divorce in 1988. They adopted three children: Mitchell, Gary, and Shelley. In 1989, he met Dr. Miriam Farbstein Ochshorn on a blind date. They married 2 years later. Miriam was formerly married to Dr. Ariel Ochshorn, with whom she had two daughters.
Father:
Arthur Adelson
Mother:
Sarah Adelson
Spouse:
Miriam Farbstein Ochshorn Adelson
It was reportedly Miriam's idea to make The Venetian in Las Vegas Venice-themed after the couple vacationed in the Italian city for their honeymoon.
former spouse:
Sandra
Son:
Mitchell Adelson
Adelson's son Mitchell passed away in 2005 as a result of a drug overdose. He filed a lawsuit against his father in the months before his death but the case was thrown out of court.
Son:
Gary Adelson
Gary and Sheldon have a strained relationship. In 2008, Sheldon’s wife Miriam also told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Gary suffered from drug addiction issues similar to those that killed his brother.
Daughter:
Shelley Adelson
Unlike her brothers, Adelson’s daughter Shelley has not been hurt by the monster of addiction and enjoys a healthy relationship with her father.
