The ‘EuroVegas’ resort by Las Vegas Sands was to be built in Alcorcon, just outside of Spain’s capital city Madrid.
But after negotiations that lasted around 2 years, the Spanish government announced on Friday that it had rejected the big, stating that the latest demands made were not acceptable.
After having apparently caved in weeks earlier and accepted the demand for allowing smoking in the resort, the latest demands made by Las Vegas Sands, were apparently incompatible with EU laws. This led the Spanish government to reject the bid all together and announce its decision today.
Later in the day, Las Vegas Sands, announced that it had scrapped its plan to invest €22 ($30 billion) and re shifted its focus on the Asian market, with a specific interest in Korea and Japan.
“We do not see a path in which the criteria needed to move forward with this large-scale development can be reached. As a result we will no longer be pursuing this opportunity,” wrote Sheldon Adelson, the company’s CEO, in a written statement.
“As chairman and CEO, my role is not only creating a vision for the company’s future, it is also fulfilling it in a way that best represents the interests of our shareholders. Developing integrated resorts in Europe has been a vision of mine for years, but there is a time and place for everything and right now our focus is on encouraging Asian countries, like Japan and Korea, to dramatically enhance their tourism offering through the development of integrated resorts there.”
The company’s CEO Sheldon Adelson heads the largest casino company in the world, with resorts in Macau and Singapore.
With Spain’s unemployment rate at 26 per cent, and youth unemployment at over 50 per cent in certain regions, the government hoped that EuroVegas would create up to 300,000 jobs.
Critics had continuously protested against the project, insisting it would be a magnet for drug dealers, prostitutes and organized crime
15 - 12 - 2013, 06:36 AM
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