Sheldon Adelson Pitches $8B Casino To Brazil
Image by getty images
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — American Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson met with Brazilian President Michel Temer and several government officials to pitch an $8 billion casino project in Rio de Janeiro.
Adelson’s visit this week raises rumors of imminent gambling law approval in Latin America’s largest nation, where it has been outlawed for the last 70 years.
The casino magnate and major donor to Jewish causes also met Israel’s new ambassador, Yossi Shelley, and Israel’s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, during a meeting led by Rio’s Mayor Marcelo Crivella at the city government headquarters.
“He is known to be the biggest individual sponsor of the Taglit Birthright project and showed interested in knowing how many youths from Rio and from across Brazil go to Israel on the project every year,” Wurman told JTA.
On Wednesday, O Globo newspaper reported that Adelson met the mayor of Brazil’s second largest city to discuss tourism. The subterfuge is necessary because Brazil has yet to legalize casino gambling, reported the CalvinAyre.com news website devoted to on-line gambling.
Adelson has long spoken of Brazil, calling the country a “potentially very good opportunity,” although he expressed some reservations regarding the economy and called for infrastructure upgrades, including more 4- and 5-star hotels.
“Visionary, Adelson wants to be one of the first entrepreneurs to conquer the country’s gaming market and also bring his casino brand,” reported the Games Magazine website. “The approval of a consistent law could make Brazil the third best market for the group, after Las Vegas and Macau.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
