As the UK Government finally closes the door on the super-casino concept, developers have been granted final approval to start construction of a Las Vegas-style mega-resort in Spain.
The Gran Scala, as it has been named, will be located in Los Monegros, a desert zone in the province of Aragón, Spain, which lies approximately 200 miles east of the capital, Madrid.
Gran Scala will eventually contain 32 casinos, 70 hotels, 232 restaurants and 500 shops, alongside replicas of Egyptian pyramids and Roman temples. The 5,000-acre site will even house a replica of the Pentagon, which will serve as a hotel.
Investors are hoping to attract 25 million visitors a year to the resort, which will cost around US$25bn to build. The first stages of the project have been earmarked for completion in mid-2011, and the Gran Scala will be fully functional by 2015.
The project is the brainchild of a consortium of foreign companies under the umbrella name of International Leisure Development.
