It was announced last month that Cyprus gaming authorities are looking for prospective investors to build a casino on the territory of the island. Now, it became clear that Cyprus relies on the new casino to bring decent revenues and help the tourism segment as well as the economy in general to be stabilized.
It is a well known fact that Cyprus has been going through lots of financial difficulties including a bailout and the future casino is believed to be a tool for helping the struggling economy. If built, it would be the first legal casino venue on the territory of Cyprus.
The casino project is supposed to be approved by the parliament members at the beginning of January 2015 and a license is likely to be given by the end of next year. That was the information a representative, familiar with the matter, revealed on Saturday.
The fact that the casino project is so important to the economy made the president office representatives take care of its further development. Such a move was regarded as a sure sign that the government is trying to avoid the long paperwork processing, which can potentially have a negative impact on the project.
Constantinos Petrides commented on the project and said that the expectations are for a number of prominent companies to be interested in obtaining a license. Three serious investors have already expressed their willingness to build a casino in Cyprus.
Petrides said that there were two alternatives for the future development of the gambling industry on the territory of the island. The first one was several small casinos to be built in each city as their maintenance would be less expensive. The second option was one large casino to be established and authorities have chosen this one.
Along with the wide variety of gaming options, the future casino would offer dining, entertaining and hotel facilities of the highest class.
The new casino is believed to make the percentage of unemployed residents smaller as staff of 3,000 people will be needed.
Although the casino will offer top quality gaming and dining options, it will not be affordable to well-off residents only. Local players will also be able to take part in their favorite game but the difference will be that they will not have to travel a long distance in order to do that.
Cyprus authorities remain hopeful that the new casino will boost the tourism sector as well since the winter period is usually too weak for the industry.
And the best of all is that the casino concession will be valid for three decades. In addition, it will be granted 15 years of free operation. In other words, Cyprus authorities will not award a license for another casino to be built for a period of 15 years.
