Madrid hopes for jobs jackpot with mega casino strip

Madrid city and regional leaders have vowed to work together to bring a massive Las Vegas-style casino strip to the Spanish capital, hoping for a jackpot of 200,000 jobs.US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands chief Sheldon Adelson is in talks to build a "mini-Las Vegas" in Spain and he has held out the prospect of a huge jobs bonanza.Madrid's mayor, Ana Botella, and the regional government president, Esperanza Aguirre, said they would fight for the investment, reportedly worth up to 18.8 billion euros ($24 billion). "We are going to change the regulations that need to be changed as long as it is line with our principles," Aguirre told reporters after the two right-leaning politicians held a one-hour meeting Monday.Aguirre said the city, regional and central government and ministries concerned must push the investment.The project would create 200,000 long-term jobs without counting employment generated by the construction of infrastructure, hotels, theatres, meeting and conference centres etc., she said. Botella, who is the wife of former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and who took over as mayoress in December, said the city may have to change its overall development plan to accomodate the casino.According to the leading daily El Pais, Las Vegas Sands presented a plan to invest 15.0-18.8 billion euros in the complex up to 2022, claiming it would create 164,000 direct and 97,000 indirect jobs.The paper said the scheme includes 12 resorts with 36,000 rooms in total, six casinos with 1,065 tables, 18,000 slot machines, nine theatres, three golf courses and a 15,000-seat stage.Las Vegas Sands' chief told reporters in Singapore last February that he wanted to make an "unprecendented investment" to build a 'Europe Vegas' or 'Euro-Vegas'.Spaniards are big gamblers.They bet 30.1 billion euros, or 644 euros per person, on casinos, bingos, slot machines and the lottery in 2009, according to a government report for that year, when the economy was hit by recession. Gamblers lost 31.6 percent of that sum, the data showed.The country's 40 or so casinos made up a relatively small proportion of the total wagered, accounting for a gross 2.0 billion euros in bets in 2009, the report said.