Reading Time: 1 minute

The much-touted casino project for Elliniko, in Greece, has suffered a set back as most of the international companies seem to have lost interest in the project. Among the six company that had shown interest originally, only three US-based companies remain in the fray now.

Those who still remain interested are Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock Cafe and Mohegan Sun tribe’s Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment.

According to local media, the terms of the concession by the contractor set to develop the property to the bid’s winner should be resolved over the next few days. However, the process – most likely – would not see a preferred company announced before 2019, as it has been delayed and lasted longer than it was originally expected.

The Elliniko casino project requires the development of an Integrated Resort Casino (IRC) to be built over more than 600k square meters, which will house hotels, convention centres, themed attractions, a 15k square-meter casino and other attractions. The chosen operators will be announced by March 2019.

Source: FocusGN

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network

Five big companies are among acquiring host of companies that are competing to obtain the coveted casino license in Elliniko – Attica’s biggest development. Four US companies – Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE), Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, and Hard Rock Entertainment – and a Chinese company – Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd – are the big five in the race.

The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC), which will grant new casino operating licenses, has set September 10 as the deadline for submit ing the initial application.

The five big companies are touted the likeliest contenders for the license.

The meetings are held to brief potential investors on the terms and demands of the tender and for investors to inform the Commission on their requests.

The companies in question are requesting full clarity and guaranteed stability of the wider framework governing the casino, sources told Kathimerini. For its part, the HGC will not proceed with the tender before it secures the maximum competition, credibility and price for the investment.

 The tender involves the creation of a so-called Integrated Resort Casino (IRC), built over more than 600,000 square meters and including a mix of hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, themed attractions, entertainment, a 15,000 sq.m. casino, shops, restaurants and other attractions.

The investment is expected to exceed one billion euros, including the infrastructure and the license. Only two such mega-casinos are being developed in Europe – in Spain by Hard Rock Entertainment and in Cyprus by Melco.

This may mean that these two groups may eventually bow out of the consultations, considering the size of the funding required for two such projects, leaving the remaining American groups to battle it out.

Representatives of MGE – which operates and develops five casino groups in the US and South Korea – met with Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas yesterday and are expected to meet with HGC head Vangelis Karagrigoriou.

Source: Latest News on European Gaming Media Network

A new bill tabled in the Greek parliament on Monday could allow casinos to lend money to reliable customers to gamble.

In an omnibus bill being voted on Monday amid strikes and protests, there is a provision which will enable casinos to lend over 50,000 euros to select customers to continue playing if they need to, a Greek finance ministry source said.

This new law is aimed at foreign customers, to facilitate more spending in Greek casinos. The idea behind the bill is that studies show many gamblers decide on the place where they will spend their holidays on the presence of casinos where lines of credit are available.

These loans will not involve cash but special chips to be used exclusively inside a particular casino. To convert these special chips into money, any casino loan must have been repaid in full.

Chips will be counted as casino revenue, meaning gambling loans will be taxed, the finance ministry source added.

Plans to expand the availability of gambling in Greece have met opposition, with the local authorities in the Greek islands of Santorini and Crete recently hitting out at government plans to allow casinos to open on the popular tourist destinations.

Media reports from Crete say that local councils in the island are also preparing to launch a campaign against the casinos.