A beach on one of the Marjan Islands off Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, where prices have exploded and returns for some have been spectacular.
Photographer: Natalie Naccache/BloombergThe First Casino Near Dubai Sparks a New Gold Rush
Four artificial islands in the Persian Gulf sat mostly empty for the past decade. Now, every lot is sold and cranes are everywhere.
Barely a year after Las Vegas casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced plans for a $4 billion resort in the United Arab Emirates, the area is crawling with construction workers erecting five-star resorts, shops and $7 million villas in what developers expect will become a major tourist hotspot.
Before that deal, the artificial Marjan islands off the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, or RAK, had spent most of the past decade as a lost opportunity, a 2.7 square-kilometer (1 square mile) white elephant largely unused after a $1 billion football-themed resort and related Real Madrid academy was scrapped for the site.