President of the Council of Tenerife Carlos Alonso said the island’s three casinos soon will be available for sale, following the receipt of an appraisal report. “The sale of the casinos will serve to increase the competitiveness of tourist activity on the island,” he said, noting that was the purpose of allowing the casinos on the island more than 30 years ago. Alonso added the appraisal report will be made public by the end of the year, allowing the sale of the casinos to proceed “as soon as possible.” The casinos are located in Puerto de la Cruz, Santa Cruz and Playa de las Americas.
Three operators expressed interest in Playa de Las Americas casino when the three casinos were put up for privatization in 2014. Although the casino was the only profitable one on the island, none of the operators followed through. Alonso said, “The value of the sale was related to the income stream for the whole life of the casino beyond the license, so that investors said that there was uncertainty because the value was great due to the income received for so long and the casino license had to be renewed every 10 or 20 years and this made for uncertainty when it came to revenues. This is the kind of problem which we have to resolve and I don’t think we will have any problem because we have enough potential bidders interested in the sale.”
Selling the casinos has its opponents, which observers said may have delayed the privatization process. In May, local Counsellor Julio Concepción said the sale of the casinos was a “disgrace,” “irresponsible” and an example of “arbitrary” policy that would not benefit on the local community.
Alonso had said in 2014 he wanted to expand casinos into other hotels on the island. The government also planned to sell shares in the three casinos. Officials hoped the moves would attract investment and the development of other attractions.
In 2015, the three casinos reported combined earnings of $518,060 compared to $1.004 million in 2014, a drop of 48.2 per cent. The only profitable operations, Casino Playa de las Americas, in 2015 posted earnings of $127,910 compared to $28,930 in 2014.
