The town council of the island of Tenerife, Spain has announced it plans to sell three state-owned casinos in September as part of a tender that would require bidders to invest in local tourism. The casinos are located in Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife or Puerto de la Cruz. The public tender will be open for six months.
The council will require proofs of a high level of solvency and technical expertise from bidders. Workers at the existing casinos will be invited to offer their opinions on the process.
Unions have already said they oppose the proposed sell off. The Worker’s Union of Spain (Unión General de Trabajadores) strongly opposes any kind of privatization because they fear possible layoffs.
The council has been considering selling off the state casinos since May 2013 when Tourism Minister Carios Alonso said they were a drain on the government’s funds.
Alonso is now president of the council. In 2014 he announced that the privatization process would begin with the Playa de las Américas casino. This sparked immediate criticism from union leaders, who said they hadn’t been consulted.
Critics of the government say the council has created a fake picture of the lack of profitability of the casinos. They claim that the council has charged many non-gaming expenses to the state owned Casino Company, which led it to report losses of €3 million in 2013.
