Will Turkish Cyprus open casinos to locals?
Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s Cyprus Casino, a temporary gaming hall in the island republic, is seeing more foot traffic lately following a sluggish start. The casino opened on June 28.
Craig Ballantyne, president of Melco’s City of Dreams Mediterranean, told the Cyprus Mail that in its first three weeks of operation, Cyprus Casino has welcomed more than 34,000 visitors from 41 nations, with 6,000 of those joining the company’s rewards club.
“So far the number of visitors has exceeded our expectations and we are very gratified with the response from our guests,” Ballantyne said. “We believe the accelerating attendance rate and strong performance of new members joining the Cyprus Casinos C2 Rewards Club is driven by the strong, positive word of mouth and self-discovery by the market.”
The €550 million (US$644 million) City of Dreams resort, a project of Melco and its local partner Cyprus Phasouri (Zakaki) Ltd., is due to open in 2021. News reports have said that it will be the largest integrated resort in Europe. The temporary casino in Limassol covers 4,600 square meters (about 1 acre) of land and offers 1,300 square meters of gaming floor with 33 gaming tables and 242 slot machines, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
Melco is also planning to open a satellite casino in the terminal building of Larnaka International Airport near the port city of Larnaka on the south coast of Cyprus. Hermes Airports Ltd. signed a two-year agreement with to provide “two specific locations in the terminal building,” set to open in the next three months. According to a news release from Melco and Hermes, the satellite casino will operate approximately 50 gaming machines.
Last June, the Melco-led consortium won a 30-year exclusive casino license from the Republic of Cyprus that allows it to build three additional satellite casinos in Nicosia, Famagusta and Paphos.
The Melco properties will be located in the Greek-controlled southern portion of the island. According to the Mail, authorities in the Turkish-controlled north may lift the ban on Turkish Cypriots visiting casinos there, to prevent them from crossing the “Green Line” to gamble in the south.
Turkish newspaper Haberal Kibrisli cited Finance Minister Serdar Denktash who said lawmakers are working to lift the ban. But Foreign Minister Kudret Ozersay denied the move on his social media account. “There is neither any such an idea or plans of the government or the responsible ministry in the works,” he said. “Therefore it is not necessary to spread such information around. Instead of allowing our citizens free entrance to the casinos, we should undertake other measures, for example intensifying inspections and controls at the casinos, control the licenses of the existing ones, collect more taxes.”
Turkish Cypriot daily Vatan quoted Izzet Izcan, head of the United Cyprus Party, who said Turkish Cypriots should never be urged to visit the casinos in the north. Izcan called on Prime Minister Tufan Erhuman to bring some clarity to the situation.
According to the travel website Cyprusholidayadvisor.com, North Cyprus has more than 20 casinos and “has become like small Las Vegas.” Most of the Casinos in North Cyprus are located in Kyrenia.
Economist Nicos Rossos, in a letter to the Mail, scolded the Cyprus government for the Melco deal, saying, “No EU country has given such damaging casino concessions.”
“That the Republic of Cyprus will allow a large number of its citizens becoming victims of gambling addiction is already statistically a fact,” he wrote. “Smoking will also be permitted in the playing sections of the Casino, contributing to the creation of lung cancer, and there will be no control on the quantity of alcohol a person may consume.”
He concluded by saying, “we have become the obedient servants of the casino people who believe they can get what they want, which has been the case up to now.”
