European Las Vegas planned for Spanish desert

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

MADRID (AFP) — Europe is set to get its own version of Las Vegas in a desert region of eastern Spain where developers plan to build 32 hotel-casinos, two theme parks, a racecourse and stadium over the next decade.

The project, approved last week by the regional government of Aragon, also calls for the construction of residential areas, an equestrian centre and a golf course on just over 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land in the Los Monegros desert.

Tentatively called "Gran Escala," which means large-scale, the development has a 17-billion-euro (25-billion-dollar) price tag that will be footed by International Leisure Development, a London-based consortium of investors.

The goal "is the construction of an integrated leisure city for people of all ages, the...