The Cyprus Mail published a rather combative commentary by economist and social scientist George Koumoullis, a regular contributor to the paper, this week. Koumoullis had a number of rebukes and complaints about the new Nicosia C2 casino opened by Melco as the first of four licensed satellite casinos in Cyprus. These satellite casinos are intended as stopgaps in the build-up to the opening of the City of Dreams Mediterranean casino resort in 2021, which is already host to a temporary casino facility. Melco have recently announced that the estimated investment of €550 million for City of Dreams will be exceeded by some margin.
It may be that Koumoullis’ critique is representative of a degree of concern which some Cyprus residents are feeling at the arrival of all these gambling services. Previously the facilities available had been scant, and in many cases unlicensed. Indeed, one of his chief concerns surrounds the lack of education on Cyprus about gambling odds and the inability to beat the system – which is designed, after all, to turn a consistent profit for the casino. Koumoullis also alleges that the casino will set a return to player of 75% in slots. He goes into some depth to explain the odds for various games offered on site, as well as levying the complaint that the stakes are set too high for recreational players.
Koumoullis also claims that the promised job creation is falling short due to the high stakes of table games and players, as a result, choosing to play the lower buy-in slots instead. He estimates job creation at the satellite venue to be in the dozens, rather than the promised hundreds.
Koumoullis may not be a lone voice in the wilderness. There is growing concern about the preparedness of the population for these gaming venues. At the very least, it seems fair to conclude that some sort of education strategy is needed to ensure that Cyprus’ problem gambling rate, currently estimated at 6%, does not rise further.
