Sheldon Adelson: World’s Worst Gambler

A word of advice: if you want to correctly predict the outcome of a U.S. election, bet on the candidate who Sheldon Adelson opposes. The president and owner Las Vegas Sands, one of the largest multi-national gaming corporations, who seems to be about to begin construction of a casino and entertainment complex in Madrid, initially supported Newt Gingrich as the Republican candidate, and lost. Later, he supported Mitt Romney, and lost again. In 2010, he tried to defeat Senate majority leader Harry Reid in his re-election bid, in large part because of Reid’s relations with the dealers’ unions in Las Vegas. Needless to say, Adelson lost.

Adelson spent $73 million (€57 million) on these elections. Of this, $20 million (€15.6 million) went to Gingrich, who won just two primaries. In addition, at least $53 million (€41.4 million) was spent to support various candidates throughout the country, including Mitt Romney. Only one of them managed to win: Dean Heller, the new Republican senator from Nevada.

The entrepreneur even bluffed a bit — in July he said that he would spend up to $100 million (€78 million) on the campaign, although he ultimately did not, perhaps because he recognized how badly things were going.

But don’t feel bad for Adelson; the entrepreneur can afford this and more. His net worth is estimated at $20.5 billion (€16 billion). Compared to the average salary in Spain (which is €22,790 gross per year) it is the equivalent of spending €13. (Obviously what Adelson has is not the same as what he earns, but believe me, I am not exaggerating. If you take mortgage debt into account, you, dear reader, probably have a negative net worth.)