$8 billion casino plans for Rio de Janeiro?

Is this really going to happen? Will an 8 billion dollar casino be build in Rio de Janeiro? If it were up to American casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, this is exactly what will happen. We have seen 84 year old men busy with many other things but not with bizar projects like this. We know he has the money because according to Forbes Magazine Adelson is good for a whopping $32.7 billion dollars but still $8 billion for a single casino sounds a bit far out to us.

Nevertheless, rumour has it that this is the amount Adelson would have mentioned to the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, where Sheldon’s newest megacasino must be located. Adelson is known for his mega casinos and he is the owner of The Venetian in Las Vegas, with remodeled Venetian channels. In the Chinese gambling city of Macau you will find another fake Venice: The Venetian Macao and also The Parisian Macao, complete with newly built Eiffel Tower.

Those three megacasinos plus eight others are managed by gambling multinational Las Vergas Sands. Founder and 52% major shareholder is, you guessed it, Sheldon Adelson himself. But eleven casinos apparently are not enough for the 83-year-old businessman. Sheldon wants more and aims for global presence with plans in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Israel and now Rio is added to this list.

Meetings in Rio

According to the Brazilian media, Sheldon Adelson had meetings with politicians in Rio de Janeiro, including mayor Crivella. During the meetings, Adelson has shown his interest on making billonaire investments in Brazil with projects in cities of great tourist appeal like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. He revealed that he has a major project for the Sao Paulo capital with the construction of a large entertainment center with a 2500-capacity arena, convention center, shopping mall, casino and other attractions that are part of Sands centers in other parts of the world. For Rio de Janiero, he plans an integrated resort.

He would have promised local political headlines to bring an $ 8 billion jackpot to the city to build also build a new gambling palace. There are two issues though: casinos are not legal in Brazil and there is quite a bit of corruption in the country. According to anonymous sources, Adelson has not mentioned the word “casino” during his visits, but everybody knows he will not be building a zoo. According to Brazilian media, he only talked about “investments” in Rio de Janeiro.

If the casino in Rio de Janeiro is actually built, it’s not even Adelson’s most expensive project. He also has plans for a huge gambling palace in South Korea. Price tag on this projects is an astronomical $ 10 billion.