Melco- Hard Rock gets license to open Cyprus first land based casino

Cyprus is all set to welcome its first land based casino in October as Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development, Florida’s Hard Rock International along with a local firm Cyprus Phassouri (Zakaki) Limited expects to open its first land based gaming outlet in Limassol in October this year as reported by Cyprus Property News. The company recently revealed to a news outlet GGRAsia through an email stating “We have been informed by the Republic of Cyprus that the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the decision to award the first-ever casino resort licence to our consortium.”

The Commerce ministry which announced on Friday stating that the Melco Hard Rock consortium comply with the competition terms and said that the coordinating committee “following the evaluation of the application of the participant in the licensing process of the integrated resort casino in Cyprus, decided that the submitted proposal of the consortium ‘Melco – Hard Rock Resorts Cyprus’ meets the requirements”.

As per this license granted to Melco Hard Rock which allows them to operate a gambling facility until 2047, and hold the monopoly until 2032. The company even has plans to open a small gaming venue later this year. Melco Hard rock consortium had to face competition from Cambodia’s NagaCorp, and Philippine operator Bloomberry Resorts during this licensing process. Though Melco Hard Rock Cyprus had officially received the Republic’s sole casino license last November allowing them to build a gaming resort in the Limassol region. But the venue is expected to open somewhere in 2020 however the license permits the consortium several methods to start earning gaming revenue in the meantime.

As per reports the consortium will shortly receive its operating license once the National Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission receives a report from the coordinating committee which needs to complete its due diligence checks at the venue.

Melco Hard Rock is hoping that they could be operating four satellite gaming venues by July this year. The largest gaming venue out of these four will be based in Nicosia and will feature 50 slot machines and five gaming tables. The other three slot only venues will be based at yet undetermined locations in Paphos, Lamarca and Famagusta.