Sands Aims To Build $20Billion 'Euro-Vegas' In Spain

SINGAPORE — Las Vegas Sands Corp. wants to build "Euro-Vegas" in Spain, its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Thursday, touting a euros 15 billion ($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 also owns the Sands Macau and the Venetian Macau along with the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and the Venetian and the Palazzo in Las Vegas.

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

"We need the support of the government," he said. "We can't draw up a plan, give it to the building department and wait six months to get an answer."

Comments

[limbo]

05:29 AM on 02/18/2011

Just what Spain needs...more slaves to slots! The cost of society is huge. Suicides, bankruptcy,mental illness. Casinos are the way to go to legally steal money from people and convince them that it's "good clean entertainment." Gambling is EVIL, period. NO ONE wins except for the casinos.

[Quotidien]

09:12 PM on 02/17/2011

Spain could use the commerce, but I'm worried that they would lose their soul in the process. I don't want to see that happen.

[ThePeacemakers]

06:48 PM on 02/17/2011

They should build it in lower Manhatten - where other gamblers love to congregate.

[ThePeacemakers]

06:49 PM on 02/17/2011

"Manhattan"

[Max Shaw]

05:54 PM on 02/17/2011

Their hookers would certainly look a whole lot better.

[gokulram arunasalam]

03:31 PM on 02/17/2011

Not sure whether it would be as successful. Europeans do gamble but aren't there casinos everywhere already? Plus, Spain is unlikely to attract the global tourist flows that trade/business oriented cities such as Singapore attract.

[thehuff]

01:07 PM on 02/17/2011

This would be GREAT and much wanted (and appreciated) in Barcelona. Barcelona has beaches and is a Port city, which would be very helpful for this type of operation. We are two hours from world class skiing. Bring it on!

[farmmesca]

12:07 PM on 02/17/2011

I'm a Catalan, and I wouldn't like to see such a vicious, and hideus, and crime fostering business, in my country. Build it elsewhere!

[robnum1]

12:27 PM on 02/17/2011

K, they will take the 120,000 possible job openings and send it to France or Portugal. Thanks for your advice farm

[Quotidien]

09:12 PM on 02/17/2011

Estic d'acord amb tu

[JScott]

11:06 AM on 02/17/2011

So currently what are the laws on gambling in Spain, is there casinos there now oop
my bad just googled it, there are casinos there,

[robnum1]

12:26 PM on 02/17/2011

get back to the LVS message board...

[norkas]

10:38 AM on 02/17/2011

I am pleased if he does this in Spain. Spain can use this and Adelson is a visionary.

[Extranjero]

09:57 AM on 02/17/2011

Great Idea............Spain's economy is on the verge of collapse, unemployment is about 20%, let's build a gambling mecca there! Haiti could also be in play.

[nurseattorney]

11:32 AM on 02/17/2011

Probably the very best thing that could happen to Haiti would be for investors to build huge resort hotels with casinos along some of their beautiful beaches. What else could bring tourists, and money to a God forsaken, treeless wasteland like Haiti? The only exploitable resources the place has are its climate and the beaches. Look at how casinos have transformed some of the poorest indian reservations in this country. Just because a place has casinos doesn't mean the population will automatically become impoverished by wasting their money in them. The crime and drug trade in Mexico is sending more and more European and North American tourists to the Caribbean in search of cheap beach vacations. Casinos add to the attraction for these people with plenty of money to waste. The DR would be a good model for Haiti.

[KIVPossum]

09:12 AM on 02/17/2011

I have welcomed and embraced every vice that crossed my path - except gambling. Never seen the pleasure in that.

[NostradamnIsuck]

09:52 AM on 02/17/2011

Love this post...I too relish my vices...However the only gambling I do is at the ballot box...
C'mon honesty and integrity...I'm really on a bad streak...

[Pandoras Folly]

12:19 PM on 02/18/2011

i like getting something for my money, random flashing lights doesn't cut it.

[dwill123]

08:54 AM on 02/17/2011

It's just me but I don't get the fixation on gambling.

[robnum1]

12:29 PM on 02/17/2011

some people like to go to the theatre, some people like to take a cruise, some people like to play blackjack. Its entertainment.