Sands eyeing $20 billion 'Euro-Vegas' in Spain

[February 17, 2011]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- 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."

[Associated Press; By ALEX KENNEDY]

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