Historically, tumultuous times offer some of the best opportunities to buy stocks, and the market's recent mess surely qualifies. Many investors are keeping their distance from casino and gaming stocks these days, but a good deal still think there's value in casino operator Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS).

In our Motley Fool CAPS community, nearly 81% of the 1,662 investors rating the company remain bullish, so there's no shortage of reasons Las Vegas Sands will thrive, three of which I've highlighted below.

But here at The Motley Fool, we're all for looking at both the good and bad sides of an investment. Once you're done with this article, you can read the case against the stock, weigh in with your own comments below, or rate Las Vegas Sands yourself in CAPS.

1. Macau
Las Vegas Sands has a growing presence in the booming city of Macau, which is its biggest source of revenue. It plans to restart stalled construction on its new resorts in January, with the first phase opening in mid-2011. Like Melco Crown Entertainment (NASDAQ:MPEL), the company plans to continue building there and eventually expects to have a total of 20,000 hotel rooms in the area, a gambling haven that provides big opportunities for many operators.

2. The house always wins
Despite a struggling Las Vegas casino industry that had an effect on operators like Las Vegas Sands, MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGM), Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD), and Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), some metrics show that the decline is slowing and thereby lead some to believe that the worst may be over. Las Vegas Sands already sees an improvement in 2010 bookings, and some CAPS members believe that the city of Las Vegas will regain its popularity with people looking to roll the dice.

3. Skin in the game
Similar to Jeff Bezos' ownership in Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Warren Buffet's massive stake in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B), CAPS members like that Sheldon Adelson and his family are playing for the shareholders. The family invested hundreds of millions more in the company last year to help it survive and added more shares to their already large stake earlier this year.  

To see details of what CAPS members are saying now about Las Vegas Sands, just head on over to Motley Fool CAPS and have a look -- or add your own thoughts in the comments box below.