Europe’s largest casino has opened in Cyprus. It is hoped that the casino will annually attract another 300,000 – high-gaming – tourists.
The newly opened casino City of Dreams Mediterranean is located near the city of Limassol on the southern coast of Cyprus. It took three years to build, cost more than 637 million euros, equivalent to about 7.5 billion kroner, and currently has 2,000 employees.
The facility, with 14 floors, has a gaming area of 7,500 square meters, 100 tables and 1,000 slot machines.
The Hong Kong-based gaming company Melco’s CEO Lawrence Ho is behind the idea. With the casino, they hope to change the tourism sector and, in the best case, attract big players from new markets in Africa and the Middle East.
– Having a casino of this quality opens up several new possibilities, says Lawrence Ho during the opening on Tuesday.
Casinos were legalized in Cyprus only in 2015, before which the Church opposed them and politicians worried about corruption and money laundering.
Tourism in Cyprus contributes about 15 percent of the country’s GDP.