Recently, the Mayor of Madrid decided to cut casino tax all the way from 45 percent down to 10 percent. It was Sheldon Adelson who ultimately got the final word in and was able to negotiate with the Mayor and present financial knowledge, to convince him to lower the tax. Words from Sheldon say that when you are spending about €15 billion in order to develop a huge EuroVegas hotel and casino, which will potentially create as much as 250,000 jobs, politicians tend to start listening to you. Cutting the tax rate was something Sheldon wanted for the casino and hotel, and it had to be done in order for it to be possible.
In fact, this is expected to be exactly what happened when the Mayor of Madrid Ignacio Gonzales announced that he would indeed cut the tax from 45 percent down to 10 percent. There are huge unemployment rates in Spain, amounting to as much as 25 percent. Ignacio Gonzales was obviously convinced that cutting the tax rate for casinos would be a profitable decision and that it could benefit the economy throughout the entire nation. However, he only came to this conclusion because of Sheldon Adelson and the developments that were planned.
If Sheldon Adelson was not able to convince the governor, the casino and hotel would have likely never became a reality, and the casino would have been built in another country with lower tax rates. Madrid actually has the lowest casino taxes in all of the industry, but this shows you that they are even willing to go to the next step to make sure that the future of Madrid is profitable and successful.
This deal that was made is actually a very good thing for the city of Madrid, because EuroVegas wants to introduce as much as 19 theaters, six casinos, twelve resorts, three golf courses and even a very large sports stadium. All of this could be wildly profitable for the area and it could benefit the economy substantially. Making this negotiation was something that needed to happen and it means big things for the Madrid area. By reducing the tax rate for casinos, the mayor made a good decision. All of the benefits that these massive developments will provide for Madrid are going to be substantial. Casino developments will still go on for many years, so the tax rate will have to remain low throughout this time. We will have to see how all of this unfolds and how successful the developments make the area, but nevertheless, it was still a good decision by the mayor to do what he did. As for online gambling, it is still a mystery whether these Madrid casinos will expand onto the Internet. Of course, Internet gambling provides profitability opportunities for local businesses, and Madrid law would allow it, so we will have to see what comes of it. Be sure to stay tuned and keep up-to-date with what is coming in Madrid, these new casinos will hopefully change the economy and rejuvenate their casino industry.