Now the owner of a Las Vegas mega-resort and many other properties, Sheldon Adelson wasn't always a high roller.

He shared a bedroom with both his parents and siblings growing up in Massachusetts. His father was a taxi driver and his mother ran a knitting shop.

Adelson started his first business at 12 years old, when he purchased a license to sell newspapers in Boston.

He is now known as a business tycoon and investor, and is one of the wealthiest men in the world.