Gambling paradise?
There are about 20 casinos in the north that, according to chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Union of Casino Owners Erdal Adeniz, contribute about £34 million to the ‘TRNC’ economy a year. They are mostly attended by gamblers from Turkey (where casinos were banned in 1998), some Turkish Cypriots (theoretically they are not allowed in but many go and gamble anyway) and, of course, Greek Cypriots who don’t have access to similar institutions in the south. The latter, according to the figures in a recent Cyprus Tourism Organisation report, spend an average of £92 a day each.
Since there are about 1,000 Greek Cypriot gamblers visiting daily (I know, I was also a bit dubious about this figure but I have checked and it seems to be true), altogether they spend about £30 million a year. Of this, around £4 million ends up as taxes in the ‘TRNC’ coffers.
Such an ‘unpatriotic’ contribution to the well-being of those in the north combined with the fact that tourism in the south is not doing very well, has made our tourism gurus conclude that the only way to save both the industry and the souls of the ‘traitors’ is to turn the Republic of Cyprus into a “casino paradise’ as well. And as when a Cypriot thinks big it really is big (remember the idea of a giant statue of Aphrodite emerging from the sea just before Paphos?), the CTO’s vision of such a paradise is giant as well.
It constitutes three casinos covering a total of 17 square kilometres, with 3,140 game seats, 280 tables, 2,700 gaming machines, three five-star hotels, a conference centre, trade centre, golf course and thalassotherapy centre (for those who have lost money to recover from the stress of it, I assume).
The building of all the above will cost about £100 million but once ready, the study says, state income will increase yearly by at least £100 million, there will be about 5,000 new job opportunities and, most importantly, we will ‘recover’ the £30 million that ‘our’ gamblers spend on the other side. We will also stop our people from spending money in casinos in other places such as the UK, Israel and Russia.
Last but not least, the report claims, the state will finally be able to do something about creating a fund to deal with Greek Cypriots’ gambling addictions and their consequences and even the idea of having the gambling industry concentrated in three main locations will help to control its potential dangers.
I guess it means that local gamblers, by gambling in their own country and in only three locations, will be under the constant scrutiny of professionals. These will immediately notice any abnormal or unhealthy behaviour, such as the brainless loss of large amounts of money, and report it to experts who in turn will be able to promptly help them in newly-created, anti-gambling-addiction centres. As a result, after a while, the gambling itself will turn into an innocent affair and we will all live happily ever after.
It all sounds very beautiful, doesn’t it? However, since we all know that casinos are not about helping people with their addictions but using their addictions against them to make money, it is also totally unrealistic.
“Our goal is to attract a number of big players from abroad who will come to Cyprus and leave their millions here,” Commerce Minister Antonis Michaelides told this paper about a month ago, and his statement illustrates much more honestly why the government wants to create casinos. Still, is the thinking really correct?
I dislike casinos and don’t visit them. I find them boring, uninteresting and morally wrong, not only because they have ruined so many lives but also because I think there are better ways to spend money. In my entire life I have visited only one casino, a small exclusive club in Mayfair that only had four or five tables and about six people in it. Everybody’s attention was on one man – a billionaire sheikh, a cousin or brother of a ruler of one of the Middle Eastern countries. He was thin and charmless, constantly coughing and smoking hand-rolled bad-smelling dark cigarettes. He lost about £2 million in half an hour and left.
Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that £2 million could have helped a lot of people to do something really good with their lives.
Cyprus is not the most beautiful country in the world but it has many attractions that, if displayed and organised properly, would attract “the big players” to the island whether it has casinos or not. The fact that so many Greek Cypriots gamble in the north is not a real problem but the fact that they like gambling so much is. Is then the opening of a casino the only solution to the problem that the government can manage? Can not this government see where the problems really are?
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