Sheldon Adelson is getting ready to invest upwards of $10 billion on the construction of a Las Vegas Sand Corporation casino in Japan.
The billionaire casino magnate and political activist is so confident of success in the Land of the Rising Sun that he’s willing to lay down that $10 billion bet in cash.
Adelson addressed the subject of a Japanese expansion at recent press conference in Tokyo where he expressed his eagerness to break into the the Japanese market. A report on Bloomberg News has Adelson saying:
We will spend whatever it takes. We could pay all cash. We don’t have to, but we will borrow money in a typical mortgage-to-value ratio.
Adelson’s vision for his Japanese operation is big, and involves a lot more than just casinos. He’s planning on building two casino complexes, one in Tokyo and one in Osaka, that will rival his massive operations in Macau and Las Vegas.
Adelson says he won’t be focusing on smaller Japanese markets at all. That’s just as well as the Sands’ Japanese operations look to be sprawling operations that incorporate plenty of retail space and, most importantly, plenty of room for conventions and exhibitions.
Adelson is, of course, not the only casino developer with his eyes on the potentially lucrative Japanese market. Both the MGM Resonts and Wynn companies are planning operations in the country as well. (Though neither currently plans on spending quite as much as Adelson.)
It’s worth noting that casino gambling is not currently legal in Japan. Japanese lawmakers are currently considering a measure that would legalize casinos in the country and are optimistic that it will pass through Parliament sometime this spring.