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Cyprus – Melco to open temporary Cyprus casino this month

By - 11 June 2018

Casino gaming will be launched in Cyprus this month with the opening of Melco Resorts’ temporary Cyprus casino on June 28.

The Macau-based operator has started the build for the permanent integrated resort, City of Dreams Mediterranean, which will cost €550m. Housed in a former grocery market, the temporary casino will cost €12m and will feature 242 slot machines and 33 table games. It will be located in Limassol on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue and will be called Cyprus Casino or C2. Of the four satellite casinos that Melco Resorts will also be allowed to open, namely those in Nicosia and Paphos, will launch in November with the third to be operational in January next year and the fourth in May 2019.

The timeline for the opening of the permanent City of Dreams Mediterranean will be sometime in 2021. It will dwarf the temporary casino with136 gaming tables and 1,200 electronic gaming machines alongside a 500-room hotel, 11 restaurants, 1,200 square meters of retail and almost 10,000 square meters of meeting and exhibition space.

Melco Resorts Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho said: “The ceremony marks the beginning of the construction of City of Dreams Mediterranean, Europe’s largest integrated casino resort and Melco’s first expansion outside Asia. I am honoured and grateful for the trust the Cypriot government has placed in Melco and CNS to carry out this ambitious and exciting project. Today, we are not just laying the foundation stone of the integrated casino resort but also entering a new era for Limassol and for Cyprus as a whole. Our project will contribute significantly to the country’s efforts for sustainable economic growth and an increase in employment rates.”

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades added: “Today, we are witnessing the realisation of a project with extraordinary benefits for our economy, with positive impact on the country’s GDP and in tackling unemployment. Foreign direct investment constitutes a fundamental pillar towards sustainable economic growth and prosperity. Our country is much more than just an attractive sun and sea tourist destination. Cyprus has all the prerequisites to be established as a regional and why not global premium destination – a genuine point of reference for luxury tourism and responsible gaming.”

The President of City of Dreams, Craig Ballantyne said players would come from the UK, Germany, Russia and Israel.

Caption: Lawrence Ho, Chairman and CEO at Melco, Nicos Anastasiades, President of the Republic of Cyprus and Melis Shiacolas, Managing Director at CNS Group

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