More than 175,000 people visited Limassol casino in first three months
Nearly 2,000 people a day have visited the first casino to operate in the Cyprus Republic since it opened in Limassol three months ago on June 28.
Cyprus Casinos (C2), the first licensed casino in the Republic, has welcomed more than 175,000 individual guests and 13,000 registered members of the loyalty programme, since it opened its doors to the public, thus achieving the goals set by Melco Group,” said a statement by the company.
Earlier this week, Cyprus Casinos hosted a series of events marking the official opening of the casino and to thank customers for their support.
Craig Ballantyne, Property President of City of Dreams Mediterranean and Cyprus Casinos, said: “C2 has become a must-see destination for locals and tourists alike.”
He added: “The three months of operation of C2 were successful and the results exceeded our expectations.”
Ballantyne thanked the community, involved stakeholders and the Cyprus government for their support so far.
Addressing a special ceremony, Minister of Finance Harris Georgiades referred to the significant revenue the state will receive from this project.
“Two-three years from now, the inauguration of the main item of the project, City of Dreams Mediterranean resort, will take place,” said Georgiades.
Mayor of Limassol Nicos Nicolaides wished Melco every success saying that C2 is the first major step towards the implementation of Melco’s main project, the establishment of Europe’s biggest integrated casino resort, City of Dreams Mediterranean, scheduled to open its doors in 2021.
Other satellite casinos in Nicosia, Paphos and Larnaca are expected to open later this year. They will be equipped with 50 electronic gaming machines but have no tables.
The Larnaca casino will operate at the airport, while Nicosia will be the only satellite casino to have gaming tables along with the 50 slots situated opposite Hilton Park in Engomi where the C-House café-restaurant used to be.
Also due to open is the casino being prepared on Ledas Street in Kato Paphos – again this will have 50 slots but no tables.
The casino on Ayia Napa’s Archbishop Makarios Avenue – near the Faros hotel – is expected to open in late 2019.
Satellite casinos are not intended to be fully fledged casinos, they will mainly serve as legal gaming venues to deter illegal gaming and people crossing over to the north to gamble.
When the Limassol casino shuts down in three years’ time, all personnel will automatically be transferred to the integrated casino resort, the City of Dreams.
Macau’s Melco International and its Cypriot partner CNS group are behind the EUR 550 mln first casino resort.
The complex will have 500 hotel rooms with a gaming area of 7,500 square metres and other facilities like an expo centre spanning more than 9,600 square metres.
It will accommodate 136 gaming tables, 1,200 gaming machines and 11 restaurants and employ 2,400 staff.
The casino complex, a landmark for Cyprus and the wider region, is expected to attract an additional 300,000 tourists per year and should put Cyprus on the map as an international conference destination.
Melco says City of Dreams Mediterranean will create 4,000 local job opportunities during the construction phase and approximately 2,400 permanent jobs once it is fully opened as well as contributing to approximately 6,500 direct, indirect and related full-time jobs.
After the second year of operation, the integrated resort is expected to contribute approximately EUR 700 mln per year to the Cyprus economy, accounting for around 4% of annual GDP.