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Greece – Fifth year of declines sees Greeks jostle for position
By Phil - 25 September 2013
With 2013 seeing Greece’s bewildered casinos suffer their fifth consecutive year of decline with GGR from January to August dropping by 9.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, many operators are now jostling to relocate or worse; close.
With total revenues coming in at €199.3m, the total amount of bets placed also fell by 11.6 per cent to reach €1.12bn. Visitation was down a further 0.8 per cent to 1,778,253.
With all but two casino affected by the downturn, several are looking at what they can do to breathe new life into their operations.
The top earning casino is now the Hyatt Regency casino on Mount Parnitha. Turnover so far has dropped by 1.8 per cent to €61.1m with attendance falling 1.3 per cent compared to the first eight months of 2012. Hyatt wants to relocate its licence from the mountain to a lower lying area in Attica.
Turnover for the first eight months at Greece’s other huge casinos in Loutraki was down 15.2 per cent to €55.3m despite attendance improving by 11.3 per cent to reach 468,852. The operator is hoping to change its corporate identity from a consortium to a company.
The Rio casino, close to Patra, also wants to relocate to a site closer to the national highway. It has experienced a 13 per cent dip in turnover drop to €9.1m with admission down by 12.4 per cent.
The casino on Rhodes saw its turnover shrink by three per cent to €12.8m although admission increased by 13.9 per cent.
Elsewhere Xanthi casino in northern Greece is due to close on September 24 despite its turnover surging by 21.6 per cent to reach €2.7m, driven by a 23 per cent increase in visitation.
The owners of the casino on the island of Syros, meanwhile want to relocate to Myconos, having slipped to a 17.2 per cent dip in turnover to €1.5m.
The Corfu casino flew in the face of diversity with an 11.5 per cent increase in turnover to €3m whilst the Halkidiki casino remained closed during the winter period and since reopening for the summer it has experienced a 48.5 per cent fall in turnover to just €1.2m.
