Describing the Asian demand for casinos as “unending,” Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson wants Singapore’s government to sell it some more land to handle demand at its Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. “We need all the land we can get. We are burdened by our own success.” Ironically, the land Adelson craves is not to expand the casino floor, but to double the resort’s current 120k square meters of convention and meeting space.
But Adelson is looking at adding casino space in Spain. A lot of casino space. Adelson told reporters in Singapore that he was having talks with authorities in Madrid and Barcelona about constructing “a mini-Las Vegas in Europe.” Adelson envisions a 20k-room resort with plenty of shopping, conference and exhibition space that would cost around €10-15b to construct and create 180k jobs. The project was dreamt up years ago, but got put on the shelf when the global economy went sour. Now, Adelson claims to be “very actively pursuing it.”
As such, Adelson made it clear he expects quick action from the talks with Spanish authorities. “We can’t draw up a plan, give it to the building department and wait six months to get an answer.” In keeping with this sense of urgency, Adelson already has the project’s name picked out. “I hope we can use the name Europe Vegas or Euro-Vegas.” Frankly, that seems kinda lame to us, especially after the whole Euro-Disney fiasco. Besides, given his non-stop promotion of Asia’s gambling market and the recent tepid performance of that faded Nevada gaming jurisdiction, wouldn’t Euro-Macau be a better moniker?
