VIE 29 DE MARZO DE 2024 - 07:53hs.
For casinos in the coming years

Rio de Janeiro and New York: next targets of Las Vegas Sands

For some time it has been known that one of the most important casino resorts operators in the world, Las Vegas Sands, has Brazil as one of its main objectives. At the end of 2018, the company confirmed that it has interest in expanding to cities where it does not yet have representation. That is why Rio de Janeiro and New York would be the priorities for the coming years. The investment is estimated at two billion dollars.

The company Las Vegas Sands Corporation was created in 1988, under another name, by the American businessman Sheldon Adelson, president until today. Currently, it has 11 properties spread across the United States, Singapore and China. He is considered the owner of one of the largest companies in the industry, with a market value of US$ 60 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Recently, the company began to analyze the possibility of having business in Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro. With profits of US$900 million, counting only the last months of 2018, money would be no problem for the American group. Las Vegas Sands would be willing to invest about US$10 billion to open a property in the city of Rio.

In early 2018, Sheldon Adelson came to Brazil and held a meeting with Mayor Marcelo Crivella. In an interview with Valor Econômico, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor explained the project. "We would have here a casino of what he did in Singapore, where 5% is the casino, and has an exhibition center, a convention center, and a hotel with two huge towers."

The idea of Las Vegas Sands would be to occupy an area near the Santos Dumont Airport, however the mayor guarantees that this should not occur. "I received Adelson's visit and he is very interested. His idea was to buy an area of Santos Dumont. I said not to that initiative so that he considers buying Porto Maravilha," Crivella added.

The impacts on tourism and the economy of the country can be positive, as Brazil seeks better economic numbers. According to the Ministry of Tourism, in 2017, the country received less than 7 million tourists in the year. Only the city of Singapore receives nearly 19 million visitors. That is, Brazil is far from being a country much sought after by foreigners. Rio de Janeiro, for example, is only the 94th place in the list of the 100 most visited cities in the world, according to Euromonitor International.

The expansion of Las Vegas Sands should not only be in Brazil. Another plan that is already being put into practice is to open a company casino in New York. Sheldon Adelson has reportedly hired former city government official Howard Glaser as a consultant to such expansions. In addition, he would already be meeting with some of the city's top entrepreneurs.

Adelson has also made deals with Kivvit, a firm that has good contacts with Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York. Meanwhile, Las Vegas Sand still worries about launching an innovative project in Las Vegas, but that should happen only in 2021.

While the political arena in Brazil discusses different possibilities and in the Houses of Deputies and Senators there are bills on the subject, Las Vegas Sands waits to give a new move. A casino in Brazil could be a different attempt to expand tourism, which still lacks major investments.

Source: GMB / Portal Rondonia