Gaming boss plans €15bn ‘Euro-Vegas’
Sands is in talks with officials from Barcelona and Madrid about the project, which could have 20,000 hotel rooms, millions of square feet of retail and convention space and create 180,000 jobs, Sheldon Adelson told reporters in Singapore.
Adelson said he was keen to build a gaming strip in either of their cities.
“I want to do a mini-Las Vegas in Europe. I hope we could use the name ‘Europe Vegas’ or ‘Euro- Vegas’ or something,” he said.
“I want to build like 20,000-plus rooms and millions of square feet of shopping and MICE space,” he added, referring to the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions sector.
“Now, we are very actively pursuing it. I’m already building up a team of development professionals in architecture, design, project development etc.
“In two weeks I’m meeting with three huge general contractors to possibly build several places at once.”
Adelson said the project would create 180,000 jobs, with investment costs unprecedented for a private company.
“This will cost close to €10bn-15bn. No private sector company has ever invested that kind of money, and we need the support of the (Spanish) government,” he stated.
The gaming mogul called on the national authorities in Madrid to set up a taskforce to fast- track their development plans as well as assign them a sizeable and suitable plot of land.
“Can you imagine having 10 Marina Bay Sands in a strip? Pretty ambitious project,” he said.
Marina Bay Sands is Las Vegas Sands’ sprawling casino establishment in Singapore, which cost $5.7bn to build and was officially completed yesterday
It opened in April last year and visitors had since averaged a million a month, Adelson stated.
“We have 11 million visitors, about a million people a month here since we opened,” he said.
Adelson expressed confidence that after all the attractions in the Marina Bay Sands open, Singapore’s target of attracting 17 million tourists to the city-state in four years’ time will be met.
“The goal of 17 million by 2015, I think we’re going to shoot right through that,” he said.
He added that the Asian gaming market had unlimited growth potential, due to the Chinese “culture” of gambling.
“I don’t think there’s going to be any limit in this market. We will continue to grow, the only thing that I can’t say with surety is how much.”
On the Spanish prospect, he added: “We’re very seriously considering this, we’re very actively pursuing this,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t do it.”
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.”
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