It seems that billionaire Sheldon Adelson is not in the business of making friends, but then he probably has no need to influence people. When Britain was going the way of market-driven casinos in the style of Las Vegas it was recorded in Parliament that the country did not want operators of the likes of Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, accused of being a bad employer. That was back in 2004 and since then Sands and Adelson have gone from strength to strength.

Manoeuvrings to get prime casino locations around Britain may have come to nought following the new gambling law, prompting the much quoted vitriolic statement by company COO William Weidner regarding ‘sub-optimal, lousy little casinos,’ but in the US, Singapore and Macau the empire building continues unabated. Las Vegas based Sands is in the process of constructing casino complexes in Pennsylvania and Marina Bay after making winning bids and is further developing the Cotai Strip.

A television documentary programme on Macau highlighted the hard-nosed business philosophy of Adelson. A great agreement for the manufacture of costumes had apparently been agreed between a clothing factory and a buyer for Sands but the factory needed some of the money up front. Back came the head office reply ‘against company policy,’ leading the buyer to comment somewhat bitterly about the lack of consideration of the corporate body for the world’s ‘little’ people. Company policy may arguably be correct but will not have endeared the firm to locals who are finding life under a casino regime increasingly intolerable.

In Las Vegas this weekend a jury has awarded Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen US$43.8 million in a judgement against Las Vegas Sands. This may have been less than half the amount claimed by Suen for work done in securing a Macau gaming licence for the company, but goes some way to compensating for the unpaid US$5 million plus 2% of net casino profits. Sands, of course, will appeal the judgement. (E-05.28.08)

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