Five companies jostle for casino license at Elliniko

Five big companies are among acquiring host of companies that are competing to obtain the coveted casino license in Elliniko – Attica’s biggest development. Four US companies – Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE), Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, and Hard Rock Entertainment – and a Chinese company – Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd – are the big five in the race.

The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC), which will grant new casino operating licenses, has set September 10 as the deadline for submit ing the initial application.

The five big companies are touted the likeliest contenders for the license.

The meetings are held to brief potential investors on the terms and demands of the tender and for investors to inform the Commission on their requests.

The companies in question are requesting full clarity and guaranteed stability of the wider framework governing the casino, sources told Kathimerini. For its part, the HGC will not proceed with the tender before it secures the maximum competition, credibility and price for the investment.

 The tender involves the creation of a so-called Integrated Resort Casino (IRC), built over more than 600,000 square meters and including a mix of hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, themed attractions, entertainment, a 15,000 sq.m. casino, shops, restaurants and other attractions.

The investment is expected to exceed one billion euros, including the infrastructure and the license. Only two such mega-casinos are being developed in Europe – in Spain by Hard Rock Entertainment and in Cyprus by Melco.

This may mean that these two groups may eventually bow out of the consultations, considering the size of the funding required for two such projects, leaving the remaining American groups to battle it out.

Representatives of MGE – which operates and develops five casino groups in the US and South Korea – met with Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas yesterday and are expected to meet with HGC head Vangelis Karagrigoriou.