Businessman Shmuel Flatto-Sharon wishes to bid for construction of a casino in Israel. He told “Globes” that he wanted to bid jointly with Las Vegas casino owner Norbert Aleman. He added that the casino would also be a real estate investment, and that he planned to invest $10 million jointly with Aleman in a 6,000-sq.m. project that would also include a restaurant. Total investment will amount to $100-200 million.
”We’ll consider building the casino in the Dead Sea hotel area or near Ben Gurion Airport. We may build more casinos later. I believe that Israel will have no alternative to building a casino, since I think that the Palestinians are planning to establish casinos in Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jenin, which will take tourists away from us,” Flatto-Sharon said.
Besides his casino, Aleman owns eighteen night clubs and other entertainment centers in Las Vegas. Among other things, he owns the Moulin Rouge club, which is a copy of the Parisian club of the same name. Flatto-Sharon estimates Aleman’s worth at $1 billion.
”The New York Times” reported three months ago that Flatto-Sharon and Aleman were among those bidding to acquire “The Jerusalem Post” English-language daily. Flatto-Sharon confirmed this report to “Globes” today, but said that the negotiations had made no progress recently.
Flatto-Sharon also said, “I regard a casino as also a real estate investment. We’ll build a 3,000-sq.m. building for the casino at a cost of $5 million, with a 3,000-sq.m. shopping center nearby. An Israeli contractor and hundreds of workers will do the construction. The casino will also have a kosher restaurant the first kosher restaurant in a casino anywhere in the world. It will attract many tourists, and also religiously observant Israelis.”
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 8, 2004