{"id":6628,"date":"2013-12-06T16:16:32","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T16:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2013\/12\/06\/israel-interested-in-las-vegas-style-casino-in-negev-dessert\/"},"modified":"2013-12-06T16:16:32","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T16:16:32","slug":"israel-interested-in-las-vegas-style-casino-in-negev-dessert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2013\/12\/06\/israel-interested-in-las-vegas-style-casino-in-negev-dessert\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel interested in Las Vegas-style casino in Negev dessert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- Original Post Content --><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i41.tinypic.com\/1yttef.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n\t<span style=\"font-size: 185px\">Nagev Dessert in the center of Israel<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\tBy LAURA MYERS<br \/>\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL<br \/>\n\tNevada Gov. Brian Sandoval held discussions with Israel\u2019s political leaders about introducing gaming to the Jewish state, which is considering the idea, the country\u2019s consul general said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\tThe discussions took place when Sandoval visited Israel in October as part of a trade mission to diversify Nevada\u2019s economy. About 50 business leaders accompanied Sandoval and focused on opportunities involving water conservation, high-tech industries and the emerging drone aircraft sector.<\/p>\n<p>\tBut David Siegel, the Los Angeles-based consul general, said Sandoval brought up gaming when he met with Israel\u2019s leaders. Sandoval met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.<\/p>\n<p>\tSiegel, speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board, said discussion of gaming that could benefit Israeli tourism is in the preliminary stages only.<\/p>\n<p>\t\u201cI think it\u2019s an area of interest,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cIt\u2019s not in the tangible phase yet, but it\u2019s something that we\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tSiegel said a town in the heart of the Negev Desert could be a potential casino site. The government recently built a luxury hotel, The Beresheet Hotel, in Mitzpe Ramon, about 50 miles south of Beersheba. The town is at the edge of the largest crater on Earth, 25 miles long, five miles wide and 1,300 feet deep. The desert town is a developing tourism mecca. The area is about a two-hour drive from Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n<p>\tSiegel said Israel could use Nevada\u2019s knowledge of how to \u201cbuild cities in the desert\u201d as the Negev accounts for 60 percent of Israel\u2019s land mass but holds only 8 percent of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<p>\t\u201cWe can benefit from your expertise,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cGaming could add to our tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tBefore Nevada legalized gambling in the 1930s, Las Vegas was a near-empty desert town with a population of about 5,000. Now, the city hosts 40 million visitors a year, and gaming funds one-fifth of the state budget.<\/p>\n<p>\tThe Silver State already has many ties to Israel, Siegel said.<\/p>\n<p>\tSheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands Corp.\u2019s CEO, is a major benefactor of the Jewish state and owns its largest newspaper. Siegel said he didn\u2019t know whether Adelson is considering opening any gaming properties in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\t\u201cMr. Adelson is a huge figure in the Jewish world,\u201d Siegel said. \u201cHe\u2019s a very well-known and deeply valued businessman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tSands spokesman Ron Reese said Thursday the company isn\u2019t developing any casino properties in Israel at the moment. \u201cThe company\u2019s not currently actively involved in pursuing gaming opportunities in Israel,\u201d Reese said.<\/p>\n<p>\tAny gaming development would have to overcome many hurdles in Israel, where there are multiple political parties and business interests in play.<\/p>\n<p>\tSiegel said Sandoval\u2019s trade mission focused on ways Israel and Nevada can partner in business enterprises and academic research and development.<\/p>\n<p>\tThe mission resulted in strengthening the partnership between Nevada\u2019s renown Desert Research Institute and Israel\u2019s Mekorot water company, according to Siegel. Another company, Ormat Technologies, Inc., is partnering with Nevada on geothermal projects, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\tIsrael is the world\u2019s top water recycling country, with 80 percent of its drinking water coming from its six desalination plants and other facilities, he said. Nevada also has water-use challenges and could benefit from Israel\u2019s research, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\tNevada and Israel also can work together on high-tech business, biotechnology, agriculture, medical technology, cyber security and drones, or unmanned vehicles, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how similar we are,\u201d Siegel said of Nevada and Israel. \u201cWe have a natural relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tSandoval said this week that Nevada has submitted a competitive application to be selected by the FAA as one of six aerial drone testing sites across the country. Israel is one of the top drone developers in the world, Siegel said.<\/p>\n<p>\tLast year, Nevada exports to Israel totaled $129 million. The state imported $144 million from Israel, the state\u2019s 10th- largest export-import country.<\/p>\n<p>\tContact reporter Laura Myers at <!-- e --><a href=\"mailto:lmyers@reviewjournal.com\">lmyers@reviewjournal.com<\/a><!-- e --> or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>Replies:<\/h3>\n<p>No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nagev Dessert in the center of Israel By LAURA MYERS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval held discussions with Israel\u2019s political leaders about introducing gaming to the Jewish state, which is considering the idea, the country\u2019s consul general said&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}