The Cyprus Gaming and Casino Supervision Authority has reportedly tapped three international firms to perform due diligence on junket operators that will be working with Cyprus’ first integrated casino resort – City of Dreams Mediterranean – when it opens doors in late 2021.
All three companies are understood to be specializing in due diligence checks and to be conducting such checks on large international casinos.
Junket operators are extremely popular in the Asia-Pacific region where casino gambling is a booming industry. Their primary role is to lure wealthy gamblers to the casino floor by offering them free accommodation, travel, and other perks.
In recent years, junket promoters have been drawing increasing attention due to concerns over the origin of their funding their reported links to Asian organized crime, and involvement in money laundering, terrorism financing, and other illicit schemes.
To protect Cyprus’ nascent casino industry from being associated with illegal activities, the gambling regulator of the tiny Mediterranean island nation has reportedly hired one firm from the United States, one from the United Kingdom, and one with offices in Cyprus and Malta to vet junket operators that will be servicing the City of Dreams Mediterranean integrated resort.
Official Announcement Expected Shortly
According to sources, the Cyprus Gaming and Supervision Authority has entered the final stages of negotiating an official agreement, and an announcement on the matter should be expected soon. All three firms will be tasked with conducting due diligence on junket operators in order for promoters involved in illegal activities to be prevented from accessing Cyprus’ gambling industry.
Sources familiar with the ongoing discussions said that “we want the Cyprus casino to operate on the basis of international standards of full transparency, especially at a time when international pressure on Cyprus is increasing because of the citizenship by investment program and provision of passports to persons with criminal records.”
Earlier this month, Cyprus announced that it had started a process to strip 26 “golden” passports given to non-EU citizens who had invested in the nation. The holders of said passports were identified as individuals with possible criminal ties.
Under an investment plan introduced in 2013, Cyprus offers citizenship to non-EU citizens who pledge a minimum €2 million investment to the nation. The program was overhauled earlier this year to now include five different due diligence layers, up from just one in 2013. However, Cyprus has recently faced heavy criticism for failing to vet applicants for the so-called “golden” passports more thoroughly.
The island nation legalized casino gambling in the mid-2010s and selected Hong Kong-listed Melco Resorts & Entertainment in 2016 as the preferred operator of the first Cypriot integrated casino resort. City of Dreams Mediterranean is currently under development in the City of Limassol and is slated to open doors in late 2021.
The integrated resort will feature a hotel, a full-blown casino with gaming tables and slot machines, conference and exhibition facilities, high-end retail space, and numerous food and beverage outlets, and is expected to up Cyprus’ tourism product and help the island nation combat seasonality and become a popular tourism hub all year round.
Source: Three firms to carry out due diligence checks on casino’s junket operator services, In-Cyprus.com
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