Equity - Additional Information (Details)																				1 Months Ended					3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 24, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 30, 2016 $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2016 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2016 $ / shares	Jun. 24, 2016 HKD / shares	Mar. 31, 2016 $ / shares	Feb. 26, 2016 HKD / shares	Dec. 31, 2015 $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2015 $ / shares	Jul. 15, 2015 HKD / shares	Jun. 30, 2015 $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2015 $ / shares	Feb. 27, 2015 HKD / shares	Dec. 29, 2014 $ / shares	Sep. 30, 2014 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2014 $ / shares	Jun. 30, 2014 HKD / shares	Mar. 31, 2014 $ / shares	Feb. 26, 2014 HKD / shares	Jan. 31, 2017 $ / shares	Jan. 31, 2017 HKD / shares	Nov. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) shares
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends paid (per share) | $ / shares		$ 0.72	$ 0.72	$ 0.72		$ 0.72		$ 0.65	$ 0.65		$ 0.65	$ 0.65		$ 0.5	$ 0.5	$ 0.5		$ 0.5
Common stock, dividends declared																										$ 2,907,000,000	$ 2,691,000,000	$ 2,384,000,000
Shares paid for tax withholding and exercise price for share based compensation | shares																												45,220
Common stock, dividends, cash paid																										2,909,000,000	2,693,000,000	$ 2,387,000,000
Distributions to noncontrolling interests																										15,000,000	14,000,000	10,000,000
Subsequent Event [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends paid (per share) | $ / shares																				$ 0.73
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			HKD 0.99				HKD 0.86		HKD 0.87
Common stock, dividends, cash paid																										2,070,000,000	2,070,000,000	2,600,000,000
Common stock, special dividends paid (in hkd per share) | HKD / shares																			HKD 0.77
Common stock, dividends, cash paid, retained by company																										$ 1,450,000,000	$ 1,450,000,000	$ 1,820,000,000
Sands China Ltd. [Member] | Subsequent Event [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends paid (per share) | HKD / shares																					HKD 0.99
Common stock, dividends, cash paid	$ 1,030,000,000
Common stock, dividends, cash paid, retained by company	$ 722,000,000
Share Repurchase Program [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock repurchased (in shares) | shares																										0	4,383,793	22,406,655
Common stock repurchased, amount																											$ 205,000,000	$ 1,660,000,000
June 2013 Program [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Stock repurchase program, authorized amount																								$ 2,000,000,000.0
Stock repurchase program, expiration																								Jun. 05, 2015
October 2014 Program [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 Program [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																										$ 2,288,000,000	2,072,000,000	1,608,000,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | Scenario, Forecast [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																									$ 580,000,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | Principal Stockholder and His Family [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																										1,240,000,000	1,120,000,000	863,000,000
Retained Earnings [Member] | All Other Shareholders [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock, dividends declared																										$ 1,050,000,000	$ 949,000,000	$ 745,000,000