Proposed casino cluster in seaside resort
If you’re waiting for casinos to be approved in Israel, don’t hold your breath. So says Israel-based consultant Peter Marcus, CEO of the Marcon Consulting Group, who recently told Gambling Insider that a proposed cluster of four casinos in the Red Sea resort of Eilat will probably go nowhere, at least for the foreseeable future.
“This is something that hasn’t got broad consensus,” despite strong support for the plan from longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the former Betfair and William Hill executive. On the other side of the issue are orthodox religious leaders, who hold a “massive amount of power in government,” and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon.
Kahlon “grew up in a very poor neighborhood and has seen how illegal gambling can ruin people’s lives. People have tried to persuade him but what he hasn’t understood, or not wanted to understand, is that it’s better to allow gambling and control it, rather than ban it and have this nasty form of illegal gambling where there’s no controls and no social responsibility,” said Marcus.
Casinos are currently illegal in Israel. Sports betting is limited to Mifal HaPayis, the national lottery. Kahlon recently joined the call to remove hundreds of slot machines operated by the lottery at gaming centers around the country, saying they are tantamount to casino games.
However, there is some forward movement on the issue. Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin is part of a government team actively developing plans for a casino complex in Eilat, according to the Times of Israel. Feasibility studies indicate such a project could pull in up to $US500 million within several years of operation. Two to four casinos are considered optimal in the southern port city where no new hotels have opened in more than a decade. Each casino would reportedly also feature an adjacent conference center and a luxury hotel. All in all, the complex could add 4,000 hotel rooms to Eilat. A report estimates the developments could boost local tourism by 15 percent and create 11,000 jobs.
In 1998, a casino opened and was “hugely popular among Israeli gamblers,” Gambling Insider reported. It is now closed.
“This is just my supposition, but I think there’s a secret hope at the back of everyone’s minds that there can be a peace treaty with Palestine, and if that does happen there will be a need to have casinos in the Palestinian territory to bring in revenue,” Marcus says.
Not everyone is pessimistic about the future of the industry in Israel. Tal Itzhak Ron, CEO of law firm Tal Ron, Drihem & Co., said, “We are under the impression that the government is starting to understand the economic potential in establishing a limited number of land-based casinos in Eilat.”
And Marcus thinks the city is a good fit: “Eilat smells and feels a little bit like a very small version of Vegas,” he said. “If casinos were allowed, it would be perfect.”
