Adelson eyes casino resort for Mass.

Monday, Dec. 16, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

Las Vegas and China casino resort developer Sheldon Adelson wants to build yet another gambling complex -- this one in Massachusetts.

Adelson last week told a Massachusetts study panel that he could spend as much as $1.5 billion to build a Bay State resort if lawmakers permit expanded gambling, the Boston Herald reported. The $1.5 billion figure would put such a project in the same league as The Venetian and Bellagio resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.

"In order to be an effective competitor to Foxwoods (a big Connecticut resort), one has to build a casino with all the bells and whistles, which is what we have in Las Vegas," the Dorchester, Mass., native told the panel, the Herald reported.

Also appearing before the panel were Indians interested in developing casinos and the owners of the state's four dog and horse tracks, who said the state could reap a tax windfall if it let 3,500 slot machines be set up at each racetrack.

Adelson owns The Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip and is developing a resort in the Chinese city of Macau. Besides promoting gambling in Massachusetts, officials of his company have this year expressed interest in developing a casino in Nebraska if that state expands gambling.

Adelson is one of many Las Vegas gambling interests eyeing the potentially huge Massachusetts gambling market. Park Place Entertainment Corp. has hired a consultant to represent its interests there while the Herald has reported that Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has been looking at potential Massachusetts casino sites including one in Springfield.