«Madrid’s Decision against New Casino Pitch of Cordish Gaming

The regional government of Madrid rejected the second application of Cordish Gaming, who was willing to create a huge integrated casino resort. And now we greatly doubt if this project is ever going to go forward.

As El Confidencial reported, Cordish’s revised proposal was rejected by the Community of Madrid. Cordish Gaming company was going to sprawl Madrid’s Live Resort and occupy about 92 hectares of the land not far from the local international airport. The main reason for this rejection is the reported concern of the local government that this project would be too heavy for Madrid’s gambling system.

The first application from Cordish was submitted last December and it covered a €2.2 casino resort including 4,000 hotel rooms together with a diverse assortment of dining and retail amenities. Madrid’s officials rejected this application because they considered it insufficiently various and unable to meet CID’s requirements (Integrated Development Center). This authority body analyzes land and tax advantages of similar applications.

The second proposal was submitted by Cordish this May. The new version contained the additional territory of artificial beach and lagoon of 6 hectares. That’s the way the company tried to satisfy requirements of the CID. But Madrid rejected this offer too, because the local authorities needed more info about this project.

According to El Confidencial, the bad news from Madrid government was delivered to Cordish on Thursday. The local authorities express their opinion that the first phase of Cordish’s project, including the casino floor of 11,000 square meters, is going to put too much concentration on gambling activity. And what’s more, they doubt that the company will be able to complete all the promised phases of construction and development. So they believe the city will never see the project’s components, which are not connected to gambling. Concerning the huge lagoon, Madrid government considers its area too large and predicts a great use of the local waters.

CID’s representatives consider Cordish’s project insufficient without the planned cultural and sport facilities, which might never appear, no matter how hard Cordish tries to rely on the designation.

According to Cordish’s plans, the first phase of this huge project will open in 2023. The expected revenue from these facilities is €784m within the first year of work. 62% of this amount is expected to come from gambling. Cordish plans to offer about a hundred of gaming tables, including 30 poker tables.

We have not heard official comments either from Cordish, or from Madrid’s local authorities. We still can’t predict if Madrid is ever going to allow Cordish to fulfil its plans. So it’s very interesting, how the company is going to satisfy concerns of the local authorities and requirements of CID.