Sheldon Adelson, Man of La Mancha

Life’s being pretty good these days to Las Vegas Sands, thanks in part to better-than-expected convention traffic at Marina Bay Sands (offsetting tepid meeting/expo biz in Macao). In addition to eyeballing Florida, Texas, Massachusetts and Japan, CEO Sheldon Adelson has seeking a sphere of influence in Spain. He’s pitching a $20 billion-plus — yes $20 billion — multi-casino development in either Madrid or Barcelona.

Despite Sands’ impressive cash-flow numbers out of Singapore — where Adelson now projects a 25% ROI (you’ll never get anywhere near that in Vegas anymore) — and Macao, Adelson is pleading poverty to the Spanish government, demanding special consideration on real estate. With no more than $6 billion in cash on hand and untapped credit, combined, he’s certainly well short of the money he’d need to make his “Europe Vegas” happen … or to underwrite more than one or two the other megaresorts he’s been pitching lately. And though he might hope to call his new casa “Euro-Vegas,” somebody in Hungary already beat him to that moniker, as Sheldon will probably find out when he inevitably tries to trademark it.

Undaunted by his inability to get Macao’s government to dance to his tune, Adelson’s already hectoring the Spaniards for fast-track approval, calling a (theoretical) six-month approval process an intolerable delay. He appears to have underestimated how paternalistic the Singaporean government can be, despite its notorious reputation in that regard, and has consistently overplayed his hand with Chinese officialdom. (By the way, if Peking eventually nationalizes Macanese casinos, that’d be a nifty way of recapturing embezzled public funds, now wouldn’t it?) Six years ago, Sands’ then-COO William Weidner rhetorically spat on Clark County, in a speech given at Wynn Las Vegas (the irony!), boasting of how much more accommodating were the autocrats of the Far East. Oh yeah?

You have to wonder how Singapore authorities reacted when Adelson proposed dumping hundreds of acres of landfill into their harbor for his own aggrandizement. (The booming convention traffic in Singapore, incidentally, is a valuable hedge for Sands’ nearly $6 billion investment there; rival $4.7 billion Resorts World Sentosa is reliant upon its casino for 90% of its revenue.)

O Little Town of Adelson. Since the Sands CEO is committed to paying down debt on his Chinese empire, it’s far from clear how he’ll improve his cash position and pay for his wish list of megaresorts simultaneously. But if he can be running out of room at Marina Bay Sands even as the finishing touches are going into place, anything is possible. Heck, $800 million problem child Sands Bethlehem is expected to start breaking even from month to month starting this year, going from a theoretical 7% ROI in  2010 to nearly 10% in 2011 (a moving target, in light of ongoing construction costs). Considering how long it’s taking Sands to polish off its Bethlehem hotel, finishing a 40-retailer shopping mall by Christmas seems optimistic even by buoyant Adelsonian standards.

If Sheldon had to make that pricey resort pencil out on slots alone (as was the original plan), it would have been financial disaster. Fortunately, Pennsylvania lawmakers threw him a table-game life raft, proving that it’s sometimes better to be lucky than smart.

Finally, congratulation to former Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO Mark Juliano (left), newly appointed viceroy of Marina Bay Sands. Adelson’s #2 man, COO Michael Leven, didn’t waste any time finding the casino-experienced executive he said Singapore needed. Too bad that, except for a small sidebar in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the news was virtually ignored by media outlets.

Lack of ‘Experience.’ Looks like the Las Vegas Tropicana is still having problems getting its much-touted Mob Experience off the ground. Yesterday’s was the latest missed “opening date” for an exhibition that was supposed to have bowed last year. A press release this morning now hails an absolutely, positively, definitively official March 29 unveiling. Meanwhile, John L. Smith is tweeting darkly of potential money problems with the Mafia-themed playground.

None of this will disturb the slumber of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, whose long-sought Mob Museum can only benefit from any tremors at the Trop. Now that Downtown Vegas is “in” again, Oscar’s museum is coming to fruition at just the right time.