Equity and Earnings Per Share (Details)												1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Nov. 04, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2016 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2016 $ / shares	Jun. 24, 2016 HKD / shares	Mar. 31, 2016 $ / shares	Feb. 26, 2016 HKD / shares	Sep. 30, 2015 $ / shares	Jul. 15, 2015 HKD / shares	Jun. 30, 2015 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2015 $ / shares	Feb. 27, 2015 HKD / shares	Oct. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) $ / shares shares
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends paid, per share | $ / shares		$ 0.72	$ 0.72		$ 0.72		$ 0.65		$ 0.65	$ 0.65
Common stock, dividends declared																$ 2,335,950,000	$ 2,174,311,000
Common stock, dividends declared, per share | $ / shares														$ 0.72	$ 0.65	$ 2.16	$ 1.95
Common stock repurchased, shares | shares																0	3,036,121
Repurchase of common stock																	$ 145,000,000
Common stock, dividends, cash paid																$ 2,336,981,000	2,174,223,000
Distributions to noncontrolling interests																10,874,000	10,148,000
Gain on dissolution of wholly owned foreign subsidiary														$ 513,357,000	$ 519,358,000	1,161,490,000	1,500,454,000
Subsequent Event [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared, per share | $ / shares	$ 0.72
Sands China Ltd [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends paid, per share | HKD / shares				HKD 1.00		HKD 0.99		HKD 1.00			HKD 0.99
Common stock, dividends, cash paid																2,070,000,000	2,070,000,000
Common stock, dividends, cash paid, retained by company																1,450,000,000	1,450,000,000
October 2014 Authorization [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Stock repurchase program, authorized amount												$ 2,000,000,000.0
Stock repurchase program, expiration												Oct. 09, 2016
November 2016 Authorization [Member] | Subsequent Event [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Stock repurchase program, authorized amount	$ 1,560,000,000
Stock repurchase program, expiration	Nov. 02, 2018
Retained Earnings [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																1,716,714,000	1,555,191,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | Scenario, Forecast [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared													$ 572,000,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | Principal Stockholder and His Family [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																932,600,000	841,800,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | All Other Shareholders [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																$ 784,200,000	713,400,000
Reclassification out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income [Member] | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Gain on dissolution of wholly owned foreign subsidiary																	$ 5,300,000