Greece’s finance ministry, as expected, has included a provision in a tabled draft bill on gaming that allows for the relocation of the greater Athens area’s sole casino from atop a mountain overlooking the Greek capital to an urban area closer to the city’s center.
The relocation will, by all accounts, be in north-northwest Athens, “relatively far” from another planned casino in the coastal Helleniko area, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in Parliament. The latter is included in a landmark contract for the Helleniko land development privatization.
The draft legislation, which was cited by “N” this week, is accompanied by a provision retaining the state’s 49-percent minority stake in the current Mont Parnes casino, which is managed by a Hyatt Regency-led consortium and located atop Mt. Parnitha.
The state’s stake, held by the Public Properties Co. (PPCo S.A.) holding company, will remain the same, and without any contractual obligation that the state must participate in any new investment.
Tsakalotos also dismissed opposition, especially by the concession holder of a troubled casino in the eastern Corinth Gulf resort of Loutraki, that relocation of the Mont Parnes casino damages its interests.
Moreover, the concession holder that will manage the casino in its new location will be obliged to pay one million euros a year, for five years, from its gaming profits to an authority managing the Mt. Parnitha national park.
