Casino king Sheldon Adelson is fond of reminding people about the times his doubters have been wrong. From the sound of things, there have been more than a few memorable moments in his business career.
The fact the Las Vegas Sands chairman and CEO is one of the world’s richest men tells you how well the naysayers have done against him. Adelson’s vision for what is now called the Cotai Strip in Macau provides entertaining fodder for one of his they-said-it-couldn’t-be-done moments.
It was once little more than a swamp, Adelson said. Now it’s Macau’s own Strip.
During a four-quarter 2017 earnings call on Jan. 24, the 84-year-old Adelson appeared consummately confident as he led a discussion of his company’s latest numbers and strategies. The news company-wide earnings had reached $1.34 billion — a 20 percent increase over the previous year thanks to the Macau and Singapore markets – would give any casino boss reason net income has to blow his horn. And with President Donald Trump on speed dial at the White House, it’s hard to say 2017 was anything but successful for Adelson.
After touting the earnings Adelson added, “This has given me a hint that I should change my middle initial meaning Gary to Growth as I’ve done before, so, it’s now Sheldon Growth Adelson.”
Not surprisingly, most of the Sands earnings conversation focused on the comeback of the Macau market, where the company has so much invested. But there was good news across the board, and few gaming industry titans rival Adelson when it comes to crowing about the success of his integrated casino resorts that again are welcoming a crush of customers.
“These attractions are now well established in Macau and will continue to flourish and grow,” he said in a transcript provided by seekingalpha.com. “I cannot be more proud of the fact that today after receiving more than 290 million visitors, the Venetian Macau stands as the most visited integrated resort in Asia, if not the world.”
Although details during the earnings call’s Q&A with analysts were mostly provided by company president and COO Rob Goldstein and executive vice president and CFO Patrick Dumont, Adelson enthused at length about his expansive integrated resort plans. He also couldn’t resist strolling down memory lane when it came to one of his Macau doubters, Asian casino billionaire Stanley Ho. If Ho has represented Macau’s past, Sands would appear to be the star of its future.
“You guys weren’t sitting there like I was, standing on a hill, looking out over the swamp and the bay and saying to my wife and her colleague with me, ‘I’m going to turn this bay and the swamp into Las Vegas,’” Adelson recalled. “And everybody laughed and criticized me. … Stanley said he is going to fail, he will be in bankruptcy, he will never get the first place built, if he does get it built he will never get it open and I said and we created a confrontation. I said, Stanley, if it’s too hot, get out of the kitchen.
“I’m sorry to say he is not around as much so he could see that Cotai became the equivalent of what I said the Las Vegas Strip compared to downtown. Now there is something that is a big jolt in the arm that downtown is going to get when the bridge opens.”
While his pal the president struggles to keep a semblance of that promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington, D.C., and his Strip buddy Steve Wynn’s stock sinks in a cesspool of sexual harassment allegations, Adelson appears to stand on comparatively solid ground.
Of course, some swamps are easier to drain than others.
John L. Smith is a longtime Las Vegas journalist and author. Contact him at jlnevadasmith@gmail.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.
