Even before the hangovers from the night before had cleared, Sheldon Adelson (pictured left) was already talking about his plans for a Las Vegas-like strip in Spain.

It was the day after the official opening party of Marina Bay Sands and the man who’s invested US$5.6 billion in the Integrated Resort in Singapore, whose structure now absolutely dominates the Singapore skyline, was looking ahead to the next deal.

Speaking to a Spanish journalist ahead of me, he talks about his vision of building a strip that will have 14-15 properties with 20,000 rooms somewhere in the country.

He doesn’t know where yet. He likes Spain, he says. He’s been there several times – Barcelona and Madrid. Spain, he feels, is the only place in Europe that could support such a strip.

"I’ve spent $5.6 billion here, I have invested $7 billion in Macau, I want to do it faster in Spain," he says. "Financial markets have opened up – for me, they have."

He says he has no problems investing money because "we have created a new business model, a new entertainment product for grown-up people".

He is concerned however about the labour conditions in Spain and whether it would be too restrictive for employers. As he sees it, you’ve got to have the flexibility to fire people. If you can’t, then you can’t reward the good employees, he says.

By encouraging bad performance, you discourage good performance, he says. "I can only go to Spain provided the conditions are right. If not, I have to go somewhere else in the world."

In Singapore, the labour conditions are right, he says. "I am not going to spend billions of dollars going into a place if the conditions are not right."

And this is what Adelson says he is all about – he doesn’t wait to be at the right place at the right time. He makes it the right place at the right time.

"Being at the right place at the right time is not a guarantee of success. I don’t believe in luck from a business viewpoint. I make my time and place by creating a situation. It’s like boy meet girl – you don’t meet anyone if you sit around waiting, you go out and make things happen."

Nobody tells you too when is the right place and the right time. You have to know, he says, and that comes from street smarts and experience.

Asked which was more important – street smarts or an MBA, he laughs, "I wish I had an MBA. It’s like a foundation to build a home.”

But he says street smarts are essential to creating a business. "With an MBA, you are no more than a scholar and you study what other people have done. I don’t wish to devalue higher education though, I think it is very important as a foundation."

Asked how having an MBA would have changed his life, he says, "I would be a lot richer a lot sooner. I am in 70s now, perhaps I’d have been richer in my 30s and 40s."

But there’s not much he’d like to change about his life.

Asked what quality he admires most in others, he says, "I admire people who follow their ancestry, who teach their children about their customs, who are proud of their ethnicity and recognize that shouldn’t interfere with other people’s beliefs."

As to the quality he’d most like to have, his first quip was "height". "I’d also like to be thinner."

After a pause, he adds, "I’m very happy with what I am. Perhaps I’d like to do more philanthropy, help medical research."