Europe’s largest casino confirms summer 2022 opening

Europe’s largest Integrated Casino Resort (ICR) will open more than six months behind schedule; in the summer of 2022, the principal shareholders of Limassol’s City of Dreams Mediterranean announced on Wednesday.

The €550 mln casino complex’s opening was scheduled for launch by the end of 2021 before the pandemic struck, triggering two national lockdowns.

Melco Resorts and Entertainment, the owner of 75% of ICR Cyprus, which is developing and operating the City of Dreams Mediterranean Casino, announced work was advancing well towards completion.

Construction is progressing smoothly, said Melco, as work picks up pace after being pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Grant Johnson, Property General Manager of the City of Dreams, stated: “Even though the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted our original timeline, we remain committed to this ground-breaking project while staying focused on the delivery of the Melco standard of excellence.

“We aim to establish a unique destination, offering a premium entertainment experience to our guests while creating real value for the country’s economy and society”.

Upon completion, the casino complex will accommodate a 7,500-square-metre gaming area comprising over 100 tables and over 1,000 state-of-the-art slot machines, a five-star hotel with approximately 500 rooms, world-class international restaurants and cafeterias, an outdoor amphitheatre, and MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions].

“We are, therefore, confident that the project will contribute significantly towards combatting seasonality as well as creating thousands of job opportunities.”

The project is expected to attract an additional 300,000 tourists annually in a bid to combat seasonality and provide close to 4,000 local jobs during the construction phase and approximately 2,500 once it is fully operational.

Cyprus Casinos operates a temporary facility in Limassol plus satellite casinos in Nicosia, Larnaca, Paphos and Ayia Napa.