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.”