Las Vegas Weekly

August 28, 2008 · 9:20 AM

After the Strip and Macau, next stop for Venetian is India

By Robin Leach

Wall Street sources tell me this morning that our billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has now set his eyes on India for the next worldwide expansion of his Venetian and Palazzo brands -- and he's willing to gamble $12 billion on the expansion.

Presently, India, with its booming economy, only has one legal casino in Goa, which like Macau, was a former Portuguese colony up until 1961. However, gaming is an active enterprise there.

Sheldon says he'll "happily spend up to $12 billion to develop a strip of casinos in India," similar to the massive Cotai Strip undertaking he now has under construction in Macau. It's subject, of course, to him being invited to India for official approvals, but my Wall Street spy says Sheldon is willing to "put that sum of money right down on the table."

This new worldwide growth comes just two days after Luxe Life reported that the hotelier had succeeded in getting a $5.4 billion loan from a consortium of Hong Kong banks for his ongoing building on Macau.

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