Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson said he planned to invest US$35 billion to build gambling resorts in Spain, after opening the US$4.4 billion Sands Cotai Central in Macau yesterday.
Macau's newest addition stands opposite Adelson's The Venetian and is expected to strengthen Sands China's position on the Cotai Strip.
The Cotai Central project, which is opening in stages, has so far cost Sands US$4.4 billion and will climb to US$5 billion by the time it is finished, said Adelson. 'The total cost until now is US$4.4 billion, but who is counting?' he quipped.
Adelson said he plans to spend US$35 billion on a mini-Las Vegas strip in Spain, where he is looking at Barcelona and Madrid as possible locations. The planned casino complex will be a five- to 10-year project.
'We are looking at 12 integrated resorts, 3,000 rooms each - a mini Las Vegas, about half the size of the Las Vegas strip, in Spain for the European market,' said Adelson.
In Asia, Adelson said he would continue to develop integrated resorts. 'We are looking to build two each in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Taiwan is late in catching up.'
Sands is opening the first phase of the Sands Cotai Central project, which features a Holiday Inn hotel with more than 1,200 rooms and a Conrad hotel with 636 rooms. When the next two phases are completed - the third is scheduled to open in a year - a total of 5,800 hotel rooms will have been added, as well as 300,000 square feet of gambling space and 1.2 million sq ft of shopping, entertainment, dining and convention facilities.
