Billionaire outlines bid for €26bn Spanish casino complex

US billionaire Sheldon Adelson said yesterday he plans to spend $35 billion (€26.3bn) on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain where he is courting the country’s two top urban areas, Barcelona and Madrid, with plans for a casino complex.

Adelson, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, was speaking ahead of the opening of his casino in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, the world’s largest casino destination, where he is expected to increase market share considerably over the next year.

“We are looking at 12 integrated resorts, 3,000 rooms each,” said Adelson. “A mini Las Vegas, about half the size of the Las Vegas strip in Spain for the European market.”

Each building would cost between $2.5bn and $3bn.

Adelson did not address the debt crisis that has gripped Europe, although he has said that the complex in Spain would be a five- to 10-year project, by which time he expected demand to have picked up significantly.

Las Vegas Sands said in February that it was studying an investment of as much as €15bn over 10 years in a casino complex in Spain that would include 36,000 hotel beds, 18,000 slot machines and three golf courses.

On his Asian expansion plans, Adelson said he would continue to develop integrated resorts in the region after the success of his properties in Macau and Singapore, where his casino is among the most profitable in the world.

“We are looking to build two each in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Taiwan is late in catching up. There is pending legislation in the other three countries,” said Adelson, one of the world’s richest men, worth an estimated $25bn according to Forbes.

Under its $31bn Macau unit Sands China, the group already has two casinos in the special administrative region of China, just one hour by ferry from Hong Kong.

The new Sands Cotai Central, erected opposite Adelson’s Italian-themed Venetian, will cost $5bn upon completion.

Estimated to increase Macau’s total hotel capacity by 26%, the property will house the Conrad, Sheraton and Holiday Inn hotel brands. Conrad and Holiday Inn will open immediately, while the Sheraton is due to open in the second half.

The opening of Sands Cotai Central comes after lengthy delays in construction, which began in 2008 when the financial crisis hit and hundreds of workers were laid off. Adelson, 78, said the delay was not just due to financing but also a shortage of labour and issues over the number of gaming tables.

— Reuters