The Las Vegas Sands Corp, the biggest gambling company in the world, recently decided to amend its internal policies to allow its employees to have a say in how the company uses its resources for community philanthropy. Casinos across the globe tend to adopt a policy where they raise funds for NGO’s and charities or donate significant amounts of money on a yearly basis in an effort to give back to society and help their city benefit from their operations.

The management decided that Sands employees who are spread across a number of international locations such as Singapore, Macau and Bethlehem, PA will have the best ground knowledge in terms of what is lacking in their community and how best the Sands community philanthropy can address those issues.

Sands China employees worked together with elderly residents in Macau helping them to prepare for the Chinese New Year which is the biggest festival in China. Marina Bay Sands employees invested over 2,000 hours of community service and helped a number of different charities and NGO’s in Singapore. In 2014, the Sands Corp helped organize an event where former captain and England soccer star David Beckham visited Macau and was part of a soccer program for youth.  Employees of the Sands Bethlehem, PA casino have been working with an adopted school for the last 7 years.

The Sands Cares program was implemented in 2014 with an objective of making a difference in the lives of “people, communities and the planet.” Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas Sands Chairman was pleased with the program and said his employees felt very satisfied in giving back to society and addressing issues that are close to their heart. In a statement, Adelson said “Our team members around the world were also a driving force behind Sands Cares, devoting their time, effort and enthusiasm to a variety of causes and organizations. Our team members led by example. They volunteered their time.”

The Sands Corp which has more than 45,000 employees located in all parts of the world also makes significant financial donations. The company partnered with “Clean the World” and made a $1 million donation to help the organisation distributes hygiene products to 96 countries in order to help fight diseases that occur as a result of poor hygiene. The company also donated $7 million to the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration located at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.