President Nikos Anastasiades attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the “Dream City Mediterranean” complex in the southern city of Limasol and said it was the largest investment project undertaken in Cyprus.
“Today will be a historic day, an important milestone,” he said. “By 2021, Cyprus’s first integrated casino resort, which is also a landmark of the wider region, will be fully operational.”
The project is expected to create about 4,000 jobs a year during construction and help create about 6,500 full-time jobs once the resort is fully operational, he said.
The government predicted the casino resort would generate around 700 million euros, or 4% of GDP, from its second year of operation, while attracting an additional 300,000 tourists a year.
A record 3.65 million tourists visited Cyprus last year, spending an unprecedented 2.6 billion euros.
Cyprus received 10 billion euros ($13 billion at the time) in IMF and European Union bailouts in 2013 to bail out the collapsing economy and insolvent banks, before the tourism boom returned to growth.
The casino complex will feature 500 hotel rooms, 7,500 square meters of gaming area and over 9,600 square meters of expo center.
The partnership between Macau’s Melco International and Cyprus’ CNS Group will have 136 game tables, 1,200 game consoles and 11 restaurants, making it the first internationally recognized casino resort in southern Cyprus. 사설 토토사이트
A temporary casino will open in Limasol later this month and satellites in other cities, including the capital Nicosia, will all be operational by next year.
The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has long had casinos recognized only by Ankara, but opposition from the Orthodox Church and fears of the social dangers of gambling kept them away from southern Cyprus, Greece.