Las Vegas Sands named to Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for World and North America

Las Vegas Sands was again recognized on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, with placement on the DJSI World Index for the fourth consecutive year and the DJSI North America Index for the eighth time. Sands China Ltd., the company's Asian subsidiary, was named to the DJSI World and DJSI Asia Pacific indices for the second consecutive year.

Sands and Sands China are the only two companies in the casino and gaming category listed on DJSI World this year, out of 19 companies invited to participate. Sands is the only company in the Casino and Gaming category listed on DJSI North America, and Sands China is one of only two companies in the Casino and Gaming category listed on DJSI Asia Pacific.

The DJSI World Index comprises global sustainability leaders as identified by S&P Global through the Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). It represents the top 10% of the largest 2,500 companies in the S&P Global BMI based on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria. The DJSI North America and DJSI Asia Pacific indices represent the top 20% of the 600 largest North American companies and the top 20% of the 600 largest companies in the Asia Pacific developed region in the S&P Global BMI based on the same criteria.

"Our recognition on this premier global sustainability benchmark, following our recent inclusion as one of Newsweek's America's Most Responsible Companies, underscores the impact of our corporate responsibility initiatives and ESG leadership," Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer, said. "We aim to be the employer and partner of choice in our regions, a model corporate citizen working to ensure strength and resiliency of our communities, and the industry leader in environmental sustainability."

Sands' DJSI inclusions also reflect the company's adaptability in aligning efforts and reporting to the major methodology changes and public disclosure expectations made for the CSA this year. The approach is reflective of Sands' focus on transparency as defined by the major ESG authorities and a dedication to continuously expanding its impact.

With the goal of achieving measured, ongoing progress, Sands also has established 2021-2025 ambitions in the areas of workforce development, Team Member volunteerism and carbon emissions reduction, mapping to its People, Communities and Planet corporate responsibility pillars.

Under the People pillar, Sands aims to invest $200 million in workforce development by 2025. As of 2022, the company had invested $56 million in workforce development initiatives, bringing its cumulative investment to $113 million since 2021, well past the halfway point. Sands is focused on building the workforce of the future by supporting the professional growth of its Team Members, advancing the skills of hospitality industry professionals as well as the local labor pool in its regions, and helping local businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, succeed.

The global Sands Cares community engagement program leads initiatives under the Communities pillar and drives the company's priorities on hardship relief, education, nonprofit and local business advancement, disaster relief and preparedness, and cultural and natural heritage preservation. In support of these issues, Sands set a 2025 target to contribute 150,000 Team Member volunteer hours by 2025; however, the company surpassed this goal by the end of 2022 because of extensive support for pandemic-related initiatives, along with core Sands Cares volunteer efforts. The new 2025 target will be announced in the company's next ESG report in spring 2024.

Finally, Sands works to ensure the long-term environmental health of its regions through the Planet pillar, led by the Sands ECO360 global sustainability program. The company's 2025 environmental ambition is to achieve a 17.5% reduction in carbon emissions. As of 2022, Sands had achieved a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from its 2018 baseline; however, the cumulative decrease reflected continued pandemic-related impact on property visitation. As business returns to more normal levels in 2023, Sands is continuing to aggressively pursue its low-carbon transition initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and transportation.

The DJSI, including the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), were launched in 1999 as the pioneering series of global sustainability benchmarks available in the market. The index family is comprised of global, regional and country benchmarks. The S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) is an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices. It covers over 10,000 companies from around the world. The CSA focuses on sustainability criteria that are both industry-specific and financially material and has been doing so since 1999.

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Las Vegas Sands suspends dividend program due to COVID-19 impact

Amidst the on-going coronavirus pandemic, Las Vegas Sands today released a statement affirming its strategic priorities. "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our business has been unprecedented, and I have never seen anything like it in my over seventy years in business," said Sands Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon G. Adelson. "Our greatest priority during this difficult time remains our deep commitment to supporting our team members and assisting each of our local communities of Macao, Singapore and Las Vegas."

"Despite these circumstances, our balance sheet strength will enable us to emerge from this pandemic with all our promising future growth opportunities fully intact. We remain extremely optimistic about an eventual recovery of travel and tourism spending across our markets, as well as our future growth prospects. We are fortunate that our financial strength will allow us to continue to execute our previously announced capital expenditure programs in both Macao and Singapore.

"As the largest shareholder of this company, my interests are very directly aligned with the interest of all shareholders. I know that the dividend is important to all our shareholders, as it is to me. I am known for the phrase, "yay dividends!", and I assure you that it is still my mantra. But a strong balance sheet is also a vital and necessary component to realizing stockholder value in the decades ahead. As I look forward to the day—soon let us hope—when this terrible virus is no longer of concern—I see many strategic opportunities for our company precisely because of our financial strength. It is because of this optimism that we are suspending the dividend so that we have maximum optionality in pursuing our strategic vision and in producing future returns. I commit to my fellow shareholders that we will revisit the suspension of the dividend at the earliest reasonable opportunity," stated Mr. Adelson.

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Las Vegas Sands donates two million surgical masks

Two million surgical masks donated by Las Vegas Sands arrived in Albany, New York this morning where 500 boxes, containing one million masks were unloaded for distribution to health care providers and first responders attacking the COVID-19 crisis on the front lines. After leaving New York, the 767 aircraft owned by Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon G. Adelson and sent to Guangzhou, China to transport the protective gear, arrived in Las Vegas with an additional one million masks for front-line crisis response in Nevada.

Masks earmarked for New York were sent to a state collection center that will distribute to front-line workers, and Nevada masks are also being distributed through a state-run entity responsible for the distribution of incoming donations, along with supplies provided directly by the state and federal government.

"This pandemic has called on each of us to use every ability we have to help those most impacted by the crisis," Mr. Adelson said. "Getting personal protection equipment to our health-care professionals and first responders in Nevada and New York, the epicenter of this crisis, is critical to keeping those brave folks safe, while making sure they can do their jobs to aid our most vulnerable citizens. I am grateful we can leverage our resources to get these donations to the front lines, and we send them with the best wishes of our company and team members."

In total, Sands has donated more than 2.5 million pieces of personal protection equipment to Nevada, New York, California and Massachusetts. The company also donated 1,900 coronavirus test kits and is in the process of donating 20,000 protective suits to the state of Nevada.

Sands also has made financial contributions to several hunger-relief organizations and donated 60 pallets of food and more than 55,000 bottles of water to local organizations. The company is currently paying each of its nearly 10,000 Las Vegas Team Members, along with providing full health-care benefits, while its properties remain closed.

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Las Vegas Sands named to Fortune's "World's Most Admired Companies"

Las Vegas Sands has been named one of the "World's Most Admired Companies" in Fortune's annual list of the most respected and reputable businesses, marking the company's fourth straight appearance—and the seventh in eight years—on the annual list of global corporate leaders. Companies are named to the prestigious list based on input from peers, analysts and leaders in their industries.

"Being included among the top companies in the world, year after year, is a testament to our innovation in the Integrated Resort business, consistently solid operational execution and financial performance and, especially, our reputation as being a good corporate citizen committed to making the communities in which we operate better places to live and work," said Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands. "Thanks to the strength of our leadership team and our Team Members' unwavering commitment to delivering on the company's plans and programs, Sands has built an enduring reputation as a global hospitality and business leader."

As the world's largest developer and operator of world-class Integrated Resorts serving both the business and leisure tourism markets, Sands pioneered the convention-based Integrated Resort model, which combines state-of-the-art meeting and convention facilities with luxury hotel rooms and suites, gaming, expansive retail offerings, celebrity-chef restaurants, live entertainment and a wide-range of other attractions and offerings.

To develop the "World's Most Admired Companies" list, Fortune collaborated with partner Korn Ferry Hay Group on a corporate reputation survey encompassing candidate companies from an initial pool of the largest U.S. companies along with Fortune's Global 500 database. For the final list of best-regarded companies in 52 industries, Korn Ferry asked executives, directors and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and the ability to attract talent. To be listed, a company's score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be ranked.

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Las Vegas Sands launches Project Protect

Aiming to strengthen community safeguards and demonstrate leadership in addressing critical social issues, Las Vegas Sands today announced Project Protect, a comprehensive global initiative to accelerate its performance in responsible gaming, anti-money-laundering and human trafficking prevention.

As a global umbrella program to build defenses against these problems, Project Protect coalesces LVS's efforts around policy and procedural enhancements in each of the core areas and introduces comprehensive team member training to build lasting solutions that meet and exceed government regulations and standard industry performance.

Project Protect will kick off with Team Member education activities timed around Responsible Gaming Education Week, 6-10 August, in the United States and on the heels of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on 30 July. The new program is LVS' third major global corporate social responsibility initiative, along with Sands Cares for philanthropic community engagement and Sands ECO360 for sustainability.

While LVS had previously addressed all of the issues targeted by Project Protect in some form in its regions around the world, the program's introduction marks the formalization of its policies and procedures for addressing these issues at a uniform global level, corresponding to both international regulations and national laws in all our jurisdictions. In addition, Project Protect introduces comprehensive and systematized training and education to ensure team members, as well as all third parties doing business with the company, can implement and adhere to policies and procedures in these areas.

"Our commitment to adhering to government and industry regulations has never wavered, but Project Protect takes a major step toward prevention and elimination of these issues at our properties by providing the right tools and education for our team members to identify problems and act swiftly and responsibly," said Lon Jacobs, executive vice president and global general counsel. "Our goal is zero tolerance for negative or harmful activity in our properties to safeguard our guests, our Team Members and the communities where we operate."

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The Venetian, The Palazzo and Sands Expo go green for Earth Day

The Venetian Las Vegas, The Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino and Sands Expo will turn exterior marquee signs green to recognize Earth Day on Sunday, 22 April.

The property has a long history of committing to environmental conservation with The Palazzo being the first resort property in Las Vegas to achieve LEED Silver Certification for New Construction in 2008 and The Venetian and Sands Expo holding the distinction of being the only existing buildings in Las Vegas to achieved LEED Gold Certification for Existing Buildings.

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Las Vegas Sands increases aid to homeless

Las Vegas Sands Corp., the world's leading developer and operator of integrated resorts, today announced an expansion to its corporate citizenship commitment to address homelessness in the Las Vegas area. Through grants totaling $320,000 to local non-profit organizations Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and HELP of Southern Nevada, LVS will help support the availability and effectiveness of stable housing in the Las Vegas area for homeless youth and adults.

Las Vegas is disproportionately impacted by homelessness. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reports that Las Vegas trails only New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego in the size of its homeless population. Given these sobering statistics, LVS is increasing its commitment in this second year of a multi-faceted, long-term effort to address the issue of homelessness in Las Vegas. In 2015, LVS provided two grants totaling more than $100,000 to NPHY and STREET Teens to support the organizations' drop-in centers for youth and to expand educational resources. This year's increased support will allow NPHY and HELP of Southern Nevada to provide safe and stable housing and supportive services to homeless adults and youth.

"Homelessness is a pressing concern in our own backyard and adversely impacts nearly 7,000 individuals and more than 2,000 youth in Clark County. As a business leader in the area, we are dedicated to making a continued positive impact to improve lives of those most vulnerable in our community," said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs at Las Vegas Sands.

The $170,000 donation to NPHY will fund two key initiatives that will expand its emergency shelter, allowing it to double the number of clients that can be housed per year, and expand accessibility of its Drop-In Center from five to seven days a week and expand their hours. At the center, homeless youth can fulfill immediate needs such as food, clothing and hygiene supplies, and be connected to resources to help them become independent, including crisis counseling, life skills classes, and educational and employment assistance.

"When youth become homeless, it often happens very quickly and unexpectedly. Being young and homeless is incredibly frightening and dangerous. The funding from LVS will help NPHY provide safe and stable housing and resources to more youth so they can focus on building healthy, productive lives," said Arash Ghafoori, executive director at NPHY.

LVS also has donated a $150,000 grant for HELP of Southern Nevada, to support the Housing First Harm Reduction Model in Las Vegas. In recent years, many homeless programs and advocates have shifted to such "housing first" approaches that couple housing with supportive services and intensive case management instead of treatment-based models that require beneficiaries to prove "housing readiness" through enrolling or completing treatment programs. HELP of Southern Nevada was the first organization in Las Vegas to use the housing first principle.

The LVS funding will allow the organization to hire three new case managers and increase supportive services, particularly during nights and weekends. Additionally, with this funding, HELP of Southern Nevada will also be able to pursue other public grants that require recipients to secure matching private funds.

"Numerous studies find that the Housing First model ends homelessness for chronically homeless individuals faster, more often and more permanently than treatment-based approaches. This approach also lowers taxpayer costs by reducing reliance on expensive services such as jails, psychiatric hospitals and the ER," said Terrie D'Antonio, CEO and president for HELP of Southern Nevada. "Funding from LVS will increase the number of our case managers and supportive services, which are the linchpin to ensuring that the housing first model works."

LVS' focus on homelessness is part of the company's corporate citizenship program, Sands Cares. Announced in 2014, Sands Cares manifests the company's core corporate social responsibility focus: supporting people in the company and the hospitality industry, making local communities where LVS operates a better place to live and reducing environmental impact on the planet. Sands Cares provides a cohesive approach to corporate and property-level giving and support in local communities where LVS operates to address the most pressing issues and help make them better places to live. For more information about Sands Cares and key initiatives, please visit the website.

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Newsweek Green Rankings names Las Vegas Sands the highest rated hospitality company in the country

Las Vegas Sands has been ranked as one of the greenest large companies in the world in the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings, released today. LVS holds the #39 spot on the U.S. 500 list and the #74 position on the Global 500 list, while the company's subsidiary in Macao, Sands China Ltd., has been listed #62. This accomplishment makes Las Vegas Sands and Sands China Ltd. the highest ranked hospitality companies in the U.S., as well as in the world.

The Newsweek Green Rankings are one of the world's most recognized assessments of corporate environmental performance, comprehensively evaluating the environmental performance of the 500 largest publicly-traded companies in the United States and around the world. The rankings are based on eight key performance indicators; Energy Productivity, Greenhouse Gas Productivity, Water Productivity, Waste Productivity, Green Revenue Score, Sustainability Pay Link, Sustainability Board Committee, and Audited Environmental Metrics.

"We take a great deal of pride in our company's commitment to minimizing the impact we have on the environment," said Katarina Tesarova, LVS vice president of global sustainability. "Earning this designation by Newsweek's Green Rankings is extremely rewarding and is a testament to our company's vision to lead the way in sustainable building development and resort operations," Tesarova continued.

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Las Vegas Sands supports NevadaGIVES

LAS VEGAS - Sands Cares, the global corporate citizenship program of Las Vegas Sands (LVS), donated $10,000 to NevadaGIVES, the nonprofit organization behind Nevada's Big Give, an initiative that is seeking to empower every Nevadan to effect positive change throughout the state. Nevada's Big Give is an opportunity for Nevada charities to raise money for their respective causes and is a vehicle for donors of all amounts to give funds where they live, thereby creating a statewide culture of giving.

On March 10, NevadaGIVES will host Nevada's Big Give – the state's fifth annual 24-hour online day of giving event. The event looks to inspire thousands of individuals to take action on the causes and issues they are most passionate about and contribute to area nonprofits. Since 2011, Nevada's Big Give has raised over $2 million in funds that directly benefit nonprofit organizations that improve the community, environment and quality of life. Last year, 460 charities participated and over 5,000 donors contributed. This year, the goal is to reach 7,000 donors.

"Our support for Nevada's Big Give offers us the opportunity to take part in a comprehensive, statewide philanthropic endeavor offering Nevadans an easy way to contribute to causes they feel are important in their community," said Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs at Las Vegas Sands. "This affords us with the unique ability to support all Nevada charities that may have different causes but share a common goal of improving the quality of life for all Nevadans."

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Las Vegas: powerful exit fees for three casinos

CARSON CITY, Nevada -- It would cost three casinos a bundle to leave the NV Energy, 3 News reported.

Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Las Vegas and MGM wish to leave the NV Energy retail electric service and seek alternative power suppliers, the report said.

Nevada Public Utilities Commission have recommended that the casinos pay fees of at least $126.5 million and other costs to do so, so other customers are not saddled with huge bill increases 3 News reported.

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