At the end of the summer the question is: What is happening with Gran Scala? After being launched with much pomp and ceremony in December 2007 and overcoming all sorts of ups and downs in the first half of the year, what should be the largest leisure and gaming complex in Europe has run into serious difficulties in finding its definitive site. The people in charge of International Leisure Development (ILD), the promotional partnership, nevertheless give their assurances that the project is still going ahead. None of the options explored up to now has been able to combine the interests of the land owners with those of the promoters and, after months of negotiation and cut and thrust with the owners, it has been decided to retrace its steps and look in other nearby towns. In fact, this spring ILD had whittled down the number of possible sites to just three, but faced now with these difficulties the group of companies is having to search on various fronts and it is believed to be considering half a dozen possible sites. "Time is money", say sources close to the project, who do not hide their concern about the possible withdrawal of some of the operators involved with the project when faced with the delay hitting the project, whose first stone was planned to be laid on 15th September. For its part the Government is awaiting the purchase of the land and although in its official statements it remains unresponsive, there is talk behind the scenes of advances in one of the options and it is confident that the project will soon go ahead. That is, insisting that the Administration has already has carried out its duties, only when the location is fixed will it proceed with the project.

As for the other macro project in Spain,  El Reino de Don Quijote, Gary Loveman CEO of Harrah's and in charge of announcing the Caesar's Palace Complex in Spain, explained during a conference that the "project is in fact paralysed". Loveman attributes this to the "the current situation surrounding the property and capital markets in Spain which is, if it's possible, even worse than in the United States." "It is a project which we have always liked very much, but until these markets are far more favourable it is unlikely that there will be much advance there", indicated Loveman. The Caesar's Palace complex in Spain is planned to have a 5-star hotel with 812 rooms, with the largest casino in Europe (10,000 square meters), an auditorium for 3,000 people inspired by the Collosseum at Las Vegas, a spa with "Roman baths" and a convention centre, among others. Harrah's has estimated the investment to be around 650 million.

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