Sands Billionaire Ph.D. Miriam Adelson Dines with Donald Trump in Florida
Las Vegas Sands' majority owner is billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson, 78, spent the weekend with former casino owner and U.S. President Donald Trump dinner.
The two billionaires chatted over dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The news was first reported by Politico.
Trump’s relationship with Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, goes back decades. Adelson founded and ran Sands until his death in early 2021. The Adelsons are Trump's largest campaign donors, giving more than $200 million in 2016 and 2020 toward Trump's White House aspirations.
Trump's meeting with Adelson comes at a critical time for the former president, who is desperate for cash.
He scored a major victory yesterday when a New York appeals court agreed to lower his bail in a civil fraud case to $175 million. However, Trump's 2024 war chest remains significantly less than President Joe Biden's. Adelson can certainly help.
Adelson Riches
Mr. Adelson died in January 2021 at the age of 87. Adelson was the largest shareholder in the Sands empire, which at the time owned and operated the Venetian and Palace hotels in Las Vegas, as well as casinos in Macau, China and Singapore.Forbes estimates her net worth at $31.6 billion, making her one of the richest women in the world.
For Adelson, no issue is more important than Israel. Adelson has become a philanthropist since marrying her late Palestinian-born husband, using the Adelson Family Foundation to strengthen Israel and the Jewish people through U.S.-Israeli relations and improving health care in the state People power.
During his term as president, Trump awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her charitable and humanitarian work in Israel. Trump also moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018, something the Adelsons urged the president to do.
Campaign finance records show Adelson still has not donated a dollar to Trump's 2024 campaign. She has previously said she would continue to run in the primary to give Republican voters a chance to decide partisan votes. With Trump now the presumptive nominee, it seems like it might be time for Adelson to open her wallet if she plans to back her friend again.
Trump's wealth could increase significantly in the coming days after his social media platform Truth went public after being acquired by blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp. was acquired. On paper, the IPO could net Trump more than $3.5 billion.
Adelson Focus
PhD. Adelson's enthusiasm for improving U.S.-Israel relations and improving the well-being of the Jewish people remains undiminished, but Sands leadership may ask the billionaire to help the company expand into new markets. Sands lost its property in February 2022 when it sold the Venetian/Palace hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for $6.25 billion.
Sands is focused on returning to the U.S. market in New York and Texas.
The company is seeking one of three casino franchises in New York state as part of the $4 billion Nassau Coliseum project. The Sands project, once favored, received the coveted permit in recent months after New York's Supreme Court ruled that the county's transfer of the stadium site lease to Sands violated public assembly rights and that public assembly rights also violated environmental laws. The chances of getting one of the certificates have increased.
Sands' ties to the Adelson family, and the $524 million the couple has poured into Republican campaigns and political action committees since 2011, have also caused pushback in the heavily Democratic state.
In Texas, Sands continues to lobby lawmakers to legalize commercial gambling.
Adelson bought a controlling stake in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban last year, worth more than $4 billion. There have since been rumors that Adelson and Cuban would use their influence in Austin to help the Mavericks build a new arena, complete with a Las Vegas-style casino resort operated by Sands.
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Source: www.casino.org
