MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc., operator of casinos such as Caesars, has announced a project to build a Las Vegas-style gambling and leisure complex in Ciudad Real, 120 miles south of Madrid. The El Reino complex also would contain three golf courses.
Harrah's would undertake the project in a joint venture with El Reino de Don Quijote de La Mancha SA of Spain.
"We plan to build a 850-room luxury hotel, a 50,000-square-foot Las Vegas-style casino, a 3,000-seat theater, conference center, a 30,000-square-foot spa, shopping mall, multiple restaurants, lounges and bars," said Aurelio Alvarez, chairman of El Reino.
Construction on the project, 60 percent-owned by Harrah's and 40 percent by El Reino, is set to begin in late 2006 on a 29-acre site, with completion expected in 2008.
El Reino plans to invest around $668 million, with the rest of the investment coming from Harrah's, which expanding outside the United States, including in the Bahamas and Singapore, said Gary Loveman, chief executive of Harrah's.
The complex, which would eventually include swimming pool areas and three golf courses, is to be built on a semiarid location called El Reino de Don Quijote, in the Ciudad Real province of the low rainfall Castile-La Mancha region.
Alvarez said water for the project would be obtained from recycling water from Ciudad Real, underground aquifers and the nearby Guadiana river.
Transport would be provided by two as yet unbuilt highways, a planned international airport and the high-speed AVE bullet train that runs from Madrid to Seville.
Casino-style gaming is not widespread in Spain, though the national lottery is very popular.
"There are millions of people in this region of Spain with an interest in gambling ,and we are confident people will get in the car, on the train and on the plane to come and see us," said Loveman. "We expect the Caesars Palace idea will be very successful in Spain."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
