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Casino del Mediterráneo takes employment levels higher


News WEST EUROPE


Amorim Turismo to open Troia as 2011 chimes


newcheer PORTUGAL


The narrow sand-strip of Troia has been one of Portu- gal’s best-kept secrets, boast- ing 18 km of white sandy uninterrupted beaches and some of the cleanest bathing conditions. The New Year will see it


open Portugal’s first casino since Lisbon opened up to gaming five years ago. Amorim Turismo Group will lift the curtain on the long awaited Troia Casino as the clock chimes over to 2011. The E156m casino has been built alongside the Tróia Design Hotel, a 5-star resort with 61 luxury rooms and 144 residential suites where design is present in every detail. The hotel includes a Spa, several restaurants and a lounge bar, an entertainment centre and a conference centre. Amorim Turismo forecasts that the gaming floor in Troia will raise E10m in revenue in 2011, with a daily influx


of 500 to 1,000 people. Jorge Amindo, president of the group Amorim Turismo, said: “There is an intrinsic reason for this date: we have a 20 year licence to operate casinos, and to open before the end of 2010 would be a loss of one year of the concession.”


The casino aims to be one of the most modern in Europe and opens with 224 slots and 16 gaming tables. Around half of these machines will be server- based.


Amindo said: “I have pio-


neered many successful technologies in Portugal and I cannot open Troia without sbX and a majority floor share of IGT’s games if I want to stay ahead of the game. Instead of changing machines, the players can change the game within the same machine. The Troia casino is innovative by being the one of the first in the world to have such a large concentration of server- based games machines. For


us it was not worth doing more of the same.” Amindo believes the casino will help boost tourism and revitalise the peninsula and heralds the casino as a ‘new centre for cultural events’, where the music and theatre must not be missed.


He also has faith that the


river connection between Setúbal and the peninsula (which cost E4 for the round


trip) will be appealing to potential players and that the casino will help address the seasonality that has reduced the demand for the new tourist destination in the summer months. With the casino not shut- ting until 3am, a new ferry service will leave the Adoxa pier for Setúbal at 4am, and is seen as a much needed service for local, casino cus- tomers and tourists alike.


“Troy needs to be commer- cialised,” said Amindo. The Mayor of Grandola


agreed. “The new Troy casino is a milestone that greatly excittes us, that gives us responsibility, and moreover it warms the heart and the soul. For all that we’ve devel- oped, we have the highest hopes and confidence, in employment, quality of tourism and business oppor- tunities,” he said.


Las Palmas Gran Casino celebrates port move


portogoodhope SPAIN


Following 23 years of opera- tion in the Hotel Santa Catalina, Las Palmas Gran Casino has now celebrated its E7m move to the port area of Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.


The venue, which is joint owned by Cirsa and local businessman Juan Padron, has long wanted to move to the high footfall of the busy port and has complained of the high rents it has had to pay at Santa Catalina in excess of E670, 000 a year. The casino had lost E2m in the last three years, Padron saying itwould have been forced to close had it not moved. The relcoation was com-


venue due to its proximity to the tourist zone of the capital and the cruise liners that dock there.


The president of the Gov-


ernment of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, inau- gurated the new facilities located in the first floor of the Saba building which provides it with more space, a bar- restaurant and the latest in casino technology.


pleted to the Saba building next to the Santa Catalina Park of Las Palma in Gran Canarias in November giving the venue a bedding in period before its official inaugura-


4 January 2011 •westeuropenews


tion in mid-December. It now has 1,400 square meters of space, 120 workers and hopes to attract up to 80,000 visitors every year, 20,000 more than the old


“Any business initiative is welcome in times such as this,” Rivero said at the inaugura- tion. “I hope that this gamble is a success that provides jobs because we need activity, we needed employment and we need innovation.” Padron believes that moving the establishment will act as a stimulus to the business.


“The casino should always be on the main street of the city and where we were pre- viously was too isolated,” he explained. “I always had the idea to bring it to the Port. It is a great project and we have made a great casino. I went with my architects to Las Vegas so they could see the casinos and understand what I was talking about. This is going to be a place of gaming, entertainment and business. But my objective is that this Port area will be revitalised because a casino adds value to the area.Today due to the economic crisis there is no security in anything, and an investment like this has to be thought about. I have employees and I have to make sure they continue to work.”


Warmed by the long Mediterranean sunshine and washed by the tranquil waters of the Atlantic, Troia resort has been taking shape on the Tróia Peninsula on the west coast, 30 miles to the south of Lisbon for the last few years. Now, finally, its casino is set to open with no expense spared.


Bilbao


Grand to replace Nervión


newhatoldhat SPAIN


Bilbao Grand Casino was due to open its doors in the middle of Christmas to take advan- tage of the attraction of the holidays. The new venue, which


replaces Nervión Grand Casino, will more than double its number of slots which is now up to 75. The gaming floor is located on 1,800 square meters of the ground floor along with a bar and a VIP area. Poker tournaments will also be offered at the new venue where they will be housed on the top floor. It will also be the first in the region to offer electronic Texas Hold’em and Black Jack tables for ten people The relo- cation of the licence and rede- velopment of the Alameda of Urquijo, itself a former cinema, has cost E25m with the aim being to create one of Europe’s most modern casinos lavished with ‘the latest technology.’ Before the crisis hit fully,


Circuito Coliseo, owner of the emblematic building, and the company which operates the Nervión Grand Casino agreed to comprehensively refurbish the property opened in 1916. Spanish hote- lier Sercotel will open a four star hotel with 97 rooms although the hotel’s opening will now have to wait until well into the next year. The venue will also boast a 400 seat restaurant. The investment in gaming equipment alone has exceeded E2m, according to Maria Ortiz, general manager of the centre.


“This will not be Las Vegas,”


she explained, adding that the name change was made to make use of the city’s name and strengthen the brand Table felts will be in grey but the venue will be lit up with ‘islands of light’ in blue, pink, green, purple, red and orange tones in a look fused from the 1970s with Italian designer lamps hanging from the ceiling. Ortiz said that almost nothing will remind people of the image most have of traditional gaming rooms.


Spanish operator Casino del Mediterráneo is to hire 100 new workers, 50 each for its Alicante and Torrevieja salons. The closure of the company’s Villajoyosa Casino resulted in the group making more than 100 workers redundant last year. Eventually, an agreement was reached between the company and most of the staff, which included a ‘relocation plan’ lasting two years. However, none are believed to be in the new batch of workers will allow the operator to increase its tournament offering and ‘cover other points of interest’ in the Alicante and Torrevieja salons.


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