Operator News
Tenerife – Tenerife to look at the options in casino sell off
By Phil - 12 August 2019
The Socialist Party of Spain (PSOE) has reached an agreement with the Podemos (We Can) Party to analyse the possible alternatives to the sale of the three casinos in Tenerife planned by the local council.
In the agreement, the two political parties agreed to jointly file a motion of censure against the ex President of the council Carlos Alonso, so that all information regarding the process of selling the casinos must be collected, in order to analyse the procedure so far as well as the economic viability of these companies going forward.
According to El Día the current president of the council, Pedro Martín, has already acknowledged that he does not know if the operation can be reversed.
The future of the casinos has caused considerable controversy. Podemos accused the previous government of selling the three public casinos with a price much lower than their actual value – and denounced it before the courts.
However, the vice president of the council, Enrique Arriaga, has already announced that in the pact that he signed with the PSOE both sides have committed themselves to carry out a streamlining of the public sector, and that therefore, they plan to continue with the restructuring plans of the companies in which the council has a majority stake.
In September the government announced that the three casinos in Tenerife had been put on sale and would be privatised under a new public tender for a total of €24.9m. The council then headed by Carlos Alonso explained that the resources obtained after the sale of the three casinos would “be used to finance social-health infrastructures” on the island.
In October 2018 workers for three state owned casinos came out in opposition of government plans to offer the casinos up for tender. In a unanimous decision workers from the three casinos agreed to take action against the move as reported by the General Worker’s Union of Spain in the Canary Islands. The union is strongly against privatisation as they argue that the casinos have consistently reported profits or at least have broken even and they also belong to the state.
