Computer Guy Hits Huge Jackpot With Asian Casino

It's a long way from the mean streets of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood to the multibillion dollar Venetian casino and convention center in Macau, but Sheldon Adelson navigated the trip successfully this week.

The final leg of the trip was relatively easy because he is chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates the Macau Venetian. Adelson and his wife, Miriam, inaugurated the Macau facility by smashing a bottle of champagne against a gondola before it floated down a canal at the facility.

Adelson is well-known to computer people as the impresario who built up the computer industry's Comdex trade show, which attracted 200,000 visitors to its Las Vegas show during the 1990s. Prior to that, he operated a high tech trade journal, the Datacom User that he used to help launch his Interface Group trade show operation. Before that, he was an active investor in computer startups in the Boston area, most of which have disappeared.

The Las Vegas Sands said the Venetian Macau is the largest building in Asia and the second largest in the world, according to media reports.

"Today is the beginning of what has been a dream of mine for some time -- to reproduce the capital of entertainment in Asia for Asians," said Adelson at a press conference Tuesday.

Adelson has indicated he has even bigger plans for his casino and convention center in South China; plans are underway to include additional luxury hotels including the Four Seasons, Sheraton and St. Regis in Macau.