February 22, 2011

Las Vegas Sands Corp. looks to Spain for US$20-billion casino site

SINGAPORE

Las Vegas Sands Corp. wants to build “Euro-Vegas” in Spain, its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Feb. 16, touting a US$20.3 billion plan for a massive strip-style casino resort in Madrid or Barcelona.

Sands is in talks with officials from both cities about the project, which could have 20,000 hotel rooms, millions of square feet of retail and convention space and create 180,000 jobs, Adelson told reporters in Singapore.

“I want to do a mini-Las Vegas in Europe,” Adelson said. “I hope we can use the name Europe Vegas or Euro-Vegas.”

Adelson said he plans to meet with contractors in two weeks and is assembling a team of architects and builders that would construct several resorts at once.

“We’re very seriously considering this, we’re very actively pursuing this,” he said.

“There’s no reason why we can’t do it.”

Las Vegas Sands invested about $6 billion to build the Marina Bay Sands casino resort in Singapore, which opened last year.

Adelson said Sands is seeking more land from Singapore to enlarge the casino’s convention space because demand has been much higher than expected.

Sands would need concessions from the Spanish government for land and guarantees that building plans would be approved quickly, Adelson said.

Associated Press

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