Cordish Companies propose €2.2b Spanish casino resort

US regional casino operator Cordish Gaming has shaken up Spain’s gaming market by announcing plans for a €2.2b casino, hotel and resort complex in the Madrid area.

Cordish, whose gaming properties include Maryland’s market-leading Maryland Live! casino, announced Thursday that it had purchased 134 hectares of land in the Torres de la Alameda region near Madrid’s Barajas airport, on which the company plans to build a massive integrated resort it’s calling Madrid Live!

At a media presentation at the Palace Hotel, Cordish Companies CEO Joseph Weinberg said the project was fully financed and his company needed only the necessary permits from local authorities before it could start turning soil to make Madrid Live! a reality.

Weinberg called Madrid “the ideal place” to launch Cordish’s first international location thanks to its built-up infrastructure and established reputation as a leisure destination.