Sands Billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson Dines With Donald Trump in Florida

Posted on: March 26, 2024, 08:28h. 

Last updated on: March 26, 2024, 11:15h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Las Vegas Sands’ controlling stakeholder, billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson, 78, dined with former casino owner and United States President Donald Trump over the weekend.

Dr. Miriam Adelson Sands Donald Trump
Dr. Miriam Adelson poses in Los Angeles after winning the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Israeli American Council’s marking of Israel’s 75th anniversary on May 5, 2023. Adelson recently dined with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. (Image: Israel Hayom)

The two billionaires chatted over dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. The news was first reported by Politico.

Trump’s relationship with Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, who founded and ran Sands until he died in early 2021, dates back decades. The Adelsons have been Trump’s largest campaign donors, with the couple contributing more than $200 million to his White House aspirations in 2016 and 2020.

Trump’s meeting with Adelson comes at a critical time, when the former president is desperate for cash.

Trump secured a major victory Monday when a New York appellate court agreed to lower his bond to $175 million related to his civil fraud case. However, his 2024 war chest remains significantly below President Joe Biden’s. Adelson can certainly help with that.

Adelson’s Riches

When Mr. Adelson died in January 2021 at the age of 87, Dr. Adelson became the largest shareholder of the Sands empire. At the time, it owned and operated The Venetian and Palazzo in Las Vegas, and casinos in China’s Macau and Singapore. Forbes estimates her net worth at $31.6 billion, making her one of the world’s richest women.

No issue is more paramount to Adelson than Israel. A philanthropist since marrying her late husband, Adelson, who was born in Palestine, she uses her Adelson Family Foundation to strengthen Israel and the Jewish people through U.S.-Israel relations and improving health care in the state.

During his presidency, Trump bestowed her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her philanthropic and humanitarian work in Israel. Trump also relocated the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018, something the Adelsons strongly urged the president to do.

Campaign finance records show Adelson still hasn’t donated a dollar to Trump’s 2024 campaign. She previously said she would stay on the primary sidelines to allow Republican voters to decide the party ticket. With Trump now the presumptive nominee, it would appear time for Adelson to open her deep pocketbook if she plans to again support her friend.

Trump’s fortune surged today after his Truth Social media platform went public after being acquired by a blank-check company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. The initial public offering saw Trump’s position in Trump Media surge more than $5.7 billion on paper.  

Adelson’s Focus

Dr. Adelson’s passion for improving U.S. relations with Israel and the betterment of the Jewish people is everlasting. But the billionaire could be asked by Sands leadership to help the company expand into new markets. After selling The Venetian/Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip for $6.25 billion in February 2022, Sands was left without a domestic property.

Sands is focused on returning to the U.S. market in New York, and possibly, Texas.

The company is seeking one of the three downstate casino concessions in New York through a $4 billion project targeting the Nassau Coliseum site. Once a favorite, the odds of Sands’ project receiving one of the coveted licenses have lengthened in recent months. That’s after the New York Supreme Court ruled that the county’s lease transfer of the arena grounds to Sands violated open meeting and environmental laws.

Sands’ ties to the Adelsons and the $524 million the couple pumped into Republican campaigns and PACs since 2011 are also causing pushback in the heavily Democratic state.

In Texas, Sands continues to lobby lawmakers to legalize commercial gambling.

Adelson last year acquired a controlling stake in the NBA Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban in a deal worth more than $4 billion. Rumors have since emerged that Adelson and Cuban will use their weight in Austin to allow the Mavs to build a new arena that’s complemented by a Las Vegas-style casino resort run by Sands.