- EuroVegas plans come with pretty pictures and headline grabbing numbers.
- 12 Mega-Resorts, six casinos and 18,000 slot machines are planned.
- Las Vegas Sands owner, Sheldon Adelson, awaits compliance with his demands for an anti-smoking law relaxation.
- For now, the glossy concept remains a PR project.
Plans for the EuroVegas complex proposed for Madrid have now been filed with the regional government, and for the first time the full scale of the concept is visible.
40,000 car parking spaces and sufficient rooms for 36,000 guests in 12 hotels, nine of them rated at five stars or higher, indicate only a fraction of the grandeur of the project.
The plan takes what it considers to be the most dramatic elements of the Las Vegas “strip” and transports it to Europe. In three phases, with the most dramatic buildings being constructed first, the strip will expand along a central corridor.
The 450 hectares of developed space will contain 12 separate mega-resorts, each an integrated commercial offering with convention centers, shops, restaurants, theatres, and of course, casinos.
The M Hotel will be the iconic symbol of the project, and its 72 floors in twin leaning towers will sit next to the Botanical Garden hotel. The Circus and Times Square hotels to be built on the opposite side of the strip will complete the first phase of the project.
The business plan envisages that 40% of the rooms will go to conventioneers and people attending fairs and special attractions. The remaining 60% will be occupied by tourists—and people coming to gamble.
Six casinos will use up 200,000 square meters of the available space, having a total of 1,605 tables and 18,000 slot machines.
The plans list an expected development spend of $7.9bn and imply quarter of a million new jobs.
Before getting too excited, potential visitors should note that the things are still in the preliminary stages—this is a “non-binding viability study” and a “preliminary vision for the development of a strip of resorts.”
The go ahead is still in some doubt as the Las Vegas Sands, headed by Sheldon Adelson, has made demands of the government which are opposed by a significant section of the community. In particular, the relaxation of smoking restrictions has met with resistance.
The glossy views shown here are public relations pieces, and the EuroVegasNo! Campaign has demanded that the Madrid Government publish not just the pretty pictures, but the detail of all 326 pages of the proposal.
The eloquent campaign opposing the development suggests: “The viability plan presented by the Las Vegas Sands has the title “A Possible Dream,” but we think a much more appropriate name would be “ A Certain Nightmare.”
Hat tip to poker-red.com for first reporting the PR video.
