The casino industry is set to rise in almost every corner of the world and for this industry partners are working hard in order to promote their businesses. In addition to this almost each player is continuously working towards launching new products, software’s and games so as to attract new players in the market. The Republic of Cyprus, the Greek-controlled southern part of the Island made the establishment of a casino legal last year and thus are inviting bids for a single gaming license. The casino industry in Cyprus is definitely going to rise and their Ministry of Energy, Industry, Commerce, and Tourism is doing their bit to witness casino industry’s growth. With the rise in the casino industry in Cyprus, it will also increase inbound tourist visitation and extend the tourism season here. However, certain last moves by the Cyprus Government are raising a lot of questions about the entire process.
In a recent move, Cyprus Government has granted a three-month extension to bid for casino license following a request from Cambodia’s NagaCorp and Philippine’s Bloomberry Resorts. These are the two out of three companies in total which have entered the second round of bidding. The consortium of Melco International Development and Hard Rock International have already expressed their disagreement with the decision in writing and demanded that the original timeframes should be respected and not otherwise. These players have expressed that as per the initial terms mentioned by Melco International Development- Hard Rock International Cyprus Phasouri (Zakaki) Limited had to submit proposals by 5th of July. However after two companies asked for some more time to reach an agreement regarding land acquisition and overcome state bureaucracy, the government decided to grant an extension of three more months.
Various industry experts have commented as well as questioned the entire process and the decision considering the fact that there is a lot of lands available in Cyprus market. In addition to this, they are also wondering as to why the bidders were not given just a single month extension to deal with their issues. With this move, people close to this matter gave a statement to The Cyprus Weekly that this event shows “an issue of credibility over the procedure.”
Another issue was the removal of the Sightseeing clause which used to be included in the request for proposal document. Cyprus government has commented on both the questionable actions and said on the extension that if they refused to offer it then they would have been left only with one bidder for the license. Regarding the sightseeing clause, they said that committee was already familiar with the bidders experience and visiting their properties “would not have added anything new.”
Let us see when and how these points would affect the casino industry’s development.
