Hellinikon casino tender could happen in August

The HGC is being urged to launch a casino tender before August 30th to revive the €8 billion Hellinikon project.

Greece.- Many setbacks have pushed the Hellinikon casino project to be delayed for years but the initiative may finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) could be soon to launch a casino tender for the development as it’s being pressured to do so on or before August 30th.

“If there is interest in the casino licence, the privatization process will move ahead swiftly,” GTP Headlines quoted from an unrevealed source. That way, the €8 billion project could be revived after bureaucratic setbacks delayed it after a 99-year lease for 620 hectares of land at the airport was approved in 2014.

Back then, an international consortium composed of local developer Lamda, China’s Fosun Group, which operates the Club Med tourism business, and Abu Dhabi-based developer Eagle Hills Properties planned to develop an integrated resort that would include a casino, high-rise hotels, luxury residences and a marina at which well-heeled gamblers could park their yachts.

However, a petition signed by 32 residents of the area was filled with Greece’s supreme administrative court in May to stop the development. Petitioners are calling to annul the presidential decree that allows the project, as they argue a 24.3-hectare expanse of forest, foreseen in it, is unconstitutional and illegal.