Organization and Business of Company (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2008	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 VML Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Singapore Credit Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 2011 VML Credit Facility [Member]	Mar. 31, 2010 Senior Secured Credit Facility - Revolving [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Senior Secured Credit Facility - Revolving [Member]	May 31, 2007 Senior Secured Credit Facility - Revolving [Member]	Aug. 31, 2010 Senior Secured Credit Facility - Extended Term Loans [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Senior Secured Credit Facility - Extended Term Loans [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Cotai Strip [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Cotai Strip Parcel 3 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Cotai Central [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Cotai Central Phases I and II [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Cotai Central Phase III [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Cotai Strip Parcels 7 and 8 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Macao Equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 United States [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Bethlehem [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Sands Bethworks Retail LLC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Las Vegas Condo Tower [Member]
Organization and Business of Company (Textual) [Abstract]
Economic interest in subsidiary																							0.86	more than 35%
Capitalized Costs														$ 7,490,000,000	$ 96,000,000	$ 3,060,000,000			$ 101,100,000			$ 0			$ 178,300,000
Outstanding construction payables	359,909,000			516,981,000												213,700,000						0
Expected cost to complete construction																	1,600,000,000	450,000,000				0
Initial term of land concessions																				25 years
Automatic extension term of land concessions																				10 years
Contribution of cash allowed for maximum leverage ratio																					50,000,000
Gaming subconcession term																				20 years
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Credit facility, repayments									775,900,000	775,900,000		1,000,000,000	1,000,000,000
Financing Arrangements [Line Items]
Funds to recommence construction						3,700,000,000
Maximum leverage ratio arrangements					The maximum leverage ratio is 6.0x for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2011, decreases to 5.5x for the quarterly periods ended March 31 and June 30, 2012, and then decreases to 5.0x for all quarterly periods thereafter through maturity.		The maximum leverage ratio is 5.5x for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2011, decreases to 5.25x for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2012, and then decreases by 0.25x every other quarter until September 30, 2014, when it decreases to, and remains at, 3.75x for all quarterly periods thereafter through maturity.	The maximum leverage ratio will be 4.5x for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2012 through June 30, 2013, decreases to 4.0x for the quarterly periods ended September 30, 2013 through December 31, 2014, decreases to 3.5x for the quarterly periods ended March 31 through December 31, 2015, and then decreases to, and remains at, 3.0x for all quarterly periods thereafter through maturity.
Debt instrument, face value											1,000,000,000
Additional Organization and Business of Company (Textual) [Abstract]
Ownership interest in Sands China Ltd	70.30%
Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, description	The Company owns 86% of the economic interest of the gaming, hotel and entertainment portion of the property through its ownership interest in Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC and more than 35% of the economic interest of the retail portion of the property through its ownership interest in Sands Bethworks Retail LLC.
Convertible senior notes offering			475,000,000
Common and preferred stock and warrants offering			2,100,000,000
Exchangeable bonds offering		600,000,000
SCL offering		2,500,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents	3,902,718,000	4,955,416,000	3,038,163,000	3,037,081,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents	$ 7,100,000