Spain refuses to genuflect to Sheldon Adelson

Spain's EuroVegas plan: US casino operator pulls plug

Proposed $30bn mega-resort outside Madrid abandoned after Spanish government rejects some of Las Vegas Sands demands

• Ashifa Kassam in Madrid
• The Guardian, Friday 13 December 2013

A US casino operator has abandoned plans to build a $30bn (£18bn) mega-resort, dubbed EuroVegas by the Spanish press, bringing an end to one of Spain's largest investment projects in recent years.
Las Vegas Sands, led by 80-year-old American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, had proposed a project outside Madrid that was to include 12 hotels, six casinos, a conference centre, golf courses, cinemas, shopping malls, bars and restaurants.

"We do not see a path in which the criteria needed to move forward with this large-scale development can be reached," Adelson said in a statement on Friday. "As a result we will no longer be pursuing this opportunity."

Las Vegas Sands announced in February that the Madrid suburb of Alcorcón was to be the site of Europe's first Las Vegas style resort. The project quickly earned the support of Spain's centre-right government, which hoped it would boost employment and tax revenues. The company forecast it would create up to 250,000 jobs in a country where one in four are out of work.

The Spanish government said on Friday that it had rejected some of the company's demands, such as guaranteed compensation in the event of future legislative changes.

"New conditions were put forward concerning taxes and legal protection … which could not be taken on board by the administrations involved," the deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

"The government needs to preserve the general interests of all Spaniards," she added.

The project was widely opposed across Spain, including by those who worried the mega-casino would lead to increased crime and prostitution. Others protested against its environmental impact. Adelson had also wanted the law changed to allow smoking in his casinos.

In a statement earlier this year, the Catholic church waded into the controversy, expressing its concerns about the project. "The church supports initiatives that are designed to create wealth and employment, but not at any price," said the bishop of Getafe, a suburb located close to the proposed site.

News of the project's cancellation spread quickly, trending on Twitter within the first hour. "It's the best news we could have received," tweeted Leopoldo García. He said the project was an attempt by the company to take advantage of Spain's already battered economy.

Economist José Garcia Montalvo said it was hard to decide whether the news was good or bad. "On one hand, it was going to create jobs. And anything that creates jobs is a good thing," he said. "But what brought Spain into this crisis in the first place was our overreliance on construction. So the idea of building something to get out of this situation didn't seem like the best idea."

Lately, he said, he had started to warm to the initiative. "In a desperate situation, where there are no other ways to create jobs, I would say it was an acceptable solution."


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/13/spain-eurovegas-us-casino-operator-pulls-plug