License to be awarded this year
Last week at least one of three bidders for a single casino license in the Republic of Cyprus formally withdrew from the bidding war.
Leo Venezuela, director of investor relations for Enrique Razon’s Philippines-based Bloomberry Resorts confirmed the company will no longer vie for a 30-year initial license to offer gaming on the Greek-controlled part of the island. He did not elaborate, but recent reports suggest Bloomberry was unable to find suitable land for its planned development—or was unwilling to pay exorbitant prices for the land it wanted. The firm reportedly was looking at the Paphos area for its casino resort.
The bidding for Cyprus’s only casino license began last year with a field of eight contenders. In March, the government announced the final three: Bloomberry, NagaCorp, and the Melco-Hard Rock Resort Cyprus Consortium, a partnership of Lawrence Ho’s Melco International and U.S.-based Hard Rock International.
According to GGRAsia and other news outlets including Philnews and the Asia Gaming Brief, NagaCorp also has struggled to find suitable land in Larnaca for its project. If that company also bows out, the last one standing may be Melco-Hard Rock, which is reportedly looking at Limassol.
But the website InCyprus.com reports that both Larnaca and Limassol are still in the running, which suggests that NagaCorp of Cambodia remains in the game. “NagaCorp is currently holding talks with two owners of land in Larnaca and it’s a matter of days before they agree,” a source told the Cyprus Weekly.
The license is expected to be awarded by the end of 2016. The winner’s plans must include at least 500 luxury hotel rooms, 1,000 gaming machines, and 100 gaming tables, for an investment of about €500 million ($US561 million).
The Cypriot government estimates that a casino resort could bring in an additional 500,000 visitors annually, mainly from the Arab countries, Israel, the Balkans and Russia. According to the legislation, the selected investor will have the option to build one regional establishment with up to five table games and 50 slot machines in addition to the main casino.
