Organization and Business of Company - Additional Information (Detail)					12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2010 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2009 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	May 31, 2007 Senior Secured Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 2011 VML Credit Facility [Member]	Sep. 22, 2011 2011 VML Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 2012 Singapore Credit Facility [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 2012 Singapore Credit Facility [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2012 2012 Singapore Credit Facility [Member] SGD	Dec. 31, 2012 Macao [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Las Vegas Condo Tower [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Sands Cotai Central [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Sands Cotai Central Phase III [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Sands Bethworks Retail LLC [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 The Parisian Macao [Member] USD ($)
Operating Statistics [Line Items ]
Gaming subconcession term												20 years
Ownership interest in Sands China Ltd	70.20%
Capitalized costs													$ 178,900,000	$ 3,960,000,000				$ 118,900,000
Expected cost to complete															450,000,000			2,700,000,000
Outstanding construction payables	343,372,000	359,909,000												191,700,000
Economic interest in subsidiary, percentage																86.00%
Economic interest in subsidiary, percentage range																	More than 35%
Maximum leverage ratio arrangements					The maximum leverage ratio is 5.0x for all quarterly periods through maturity.		The maximum leverage ratio is 4.5x for the quarterly periods ending December 31, 2012 through June 30, 2013, decreases to 4.0x for the quarterly periods ending September 30, 2013 through December 31, 2014, decreases to 3.5x for the quarterly periods ending March 31 through December 31, 2015, and then decreases to, and remains at, 3.0x for all quarterly periods thereafter through maturity		The maximum leverage ratio is 4.0x for the quarterly periods ending December 31, 2012 through September 30, 2013, decreases to 3.5x for the quarterly periods ending December 31, 2013 through December 31, 2014, and then decreases to, and remains at, 3.0x for all quarterly periods thereafter through maturity.
Contribution of cash allowed for maximum leverage ratio					50,000,000
Cash and cash equivalents	2,512,766,000	3,902,718,000	3,037,081,000	4,955,416,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents	6,500,000
Future financing																		2,000,000,000
Debt instrument, face value						$ 5,000,000,000		$ 3,700,000,000		$ 4,180,000,000	5,100,000,000