PHOTO: With the withdrawl of Las Vegas Sands from EuroVegas, Madrid will maintain its more traditional chasrms. (Courtesy Spanish Tourism Office)

Las Vegas Sands is pulling out of a long simmering plan to develop a $30 billion integrated resort with six casinos, 12 hotels, golf courses, malls and more outside of Madrid in the suburb of Alcorcón.

The attempt to build what would have been Europe’s first Las Vegas style gambling resort was controversial in Spain where it was referred to somewhat derisively as “EuroVegas.”

While the political Right saw the creation of 250,000 jobs in a job poor economy suffering from 27 percent unemployment rates, more liberal voices joined with the Catholic Church to critique the social impact of gambling and the environmental impact of such a large resort.

Speaking to The Guardian, the Bishop of Getafe said, "The church supports initiatives that are designed to create wealth and employment, but not at any price.”

For Sands, with so much success in its Asian resorts in Macau and Singapore and the prospects of new resorts in Japan and Korea, there was no real impetus to force the issue in Europe.

The project faltered when Sands issued demands to the Spanish government seeking lower taxes on gaming, a provision to allow smoking in the casinos and protection from potential legal regulations in the form of compensation should current regulatory policies change in the future.

Zacks Analyst Blog reports that Sands plans to turn its focus to Asian development as some 80 percent of Las Vegas Sand’s earnings come from Macau