Battle in Cyprus Over Award Of Casino License

The Plan to create just one single casino resort in the whole of Cyprus has met with resistance from the Mayors of the five main districts, who all want their own resort. In July’s Cypriot gambling news, the cabinet announced only a single license would be granted, instead of a series of smaller ones in each of the island’s different districts.

The news comes after the government has backed Cypriot gambling laws changes that legalize casinos and the when MPs return from their summer recess, they will be asked to approve the legislation and fast track the completion of the resort casino within the year. If this does get the go ahead, then the government could find itself at loggerheads with the 5 Mayors of the main districts sooner rather than later.

Constantinos Yiorkadjis, the mayor of Nicoisa, agrees with his fellow mayors, saying: “I believe we would be better served by investing in smaller scale casinos which are more viable like purpose built and resort casinos.” He added that different styles of casinos could be built in each region to attract different gamblers, such as a theme park style casino in the tourist area of Famagusta.

He added: “In Larnaca a hotel-casino could be built in the old airport, in Limassol bearing in mind the town’s population, the visitors and the new marina, a casino could be created with luxury services while in Paphos a casino could be linked to the many golf courses in the area.”

Unlike online casinos in Cyprus – the island is home to many of the world’s online casinos – the idea of brick and mortar casinos has been a hot topic for many years. While southern, Greek Cyprus has had no casinos, the Turkish north of the island has been home to 24 casinos, often visited by many of the Greek Cypriots from the south.