Political Donations
The son of a cabdriver from Lithuania, Adelson started his first business at the age of 12, selling newspapers with the help of a $200 loan. He got rich in the 1980s as the owner of a company that organized computer trade shows. Later, he bought the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
A globe-spanning casino and resort empire followed. He drew national attention in 2012 by donating more than $90 million to groups that supported Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney, the presidential nominee and an estate-tax opponent.
In November 2010, Adelson sat for an interview with a Bloomberg News reporter in Las Vegas Sands’ corporate boardroom, tucked inside the palatial Venetian resort. He spoke of the perks of being gambling’s richest man: His weekend home in Malibu, California; the homes in Israel and the south of France; the six jets that ferry his family between them.