News
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE Casinos soft targets in Cyprus
The imposition of draconian licence fees and taxes could sink the North Cyprus casinos
Many casinos in Northern Cyprus are already struggling to survive, but new tax and licence fees could sound the death knell for many, if not all of them. The Northern Cyprus Government Council of Ministers announced that the annual licence fee paid by casinos will be increased from the current €300,000 per year to €1m per year. Added to which the gaming tax that the casinos pay will be increased by 20 per cent. The increases have already been announced in the Government Gazette and are waiting the statutory 30 days before being authorised by parliament and then signed into law by the Prime Minister.
This news fell on operators like a bomb, as there is little chance that the majority of the Northern Cyprus casinos will have the financial means to pay. After an urgently convened meeting of the CIB (the Association of Casino Operators), the CIB have agreed that they will petition the government. All the casinos were against this increase and it was said that if the government does not change the new increase then they should close all the casinos on the island. According to the spokesman, the CIB believe that the government is doing this because they cannot pay the 13th month salary to its government workers and that Turkey has refused to give this money to them. This would not be the first time that the Northern Cyprus government has hit onto the perceived ‘cash cow’ of casinos for precisely this reason.
Previous licence and tax hikes have been hard for the casinos to support but have been able to be lived with, but these new demands will be impossible to meet. The saying ‘too much tax kills the tax’ springs to mind. By law, casinos must be located in 5 star hotels and the owners of these hotels (if they are not already the casino owners) have been making huge investments in recent years to bring up to international standard the existing hotels and to develop new luxury resorts. All this investment could prove to be for nothing as with the limited numbers of international tourists in Northern Cyprus, the hotels are very much dependent on the casinos for their room, food and beverage revenue. If the casinos close, so will the 5 star hotels. Without the hotels there will be no tourism and without tourism there is no economy for Northern Cyprus.
The CIB has said they will be holding urgent discussions with the government, as will
the representatives of the hotel owners. The CIB also believe
that the government is waiting for this discussion as they
cannot be so naive as to think that the
casinos will accept this increase.
The government’s decision is illogical as it targets one of the few business sectors that actually works on the island. Both the country's economy and the tourism sector will be damaged, possibly beyond repair and a sector that is already in difficulty could completely sink. For this reason many casinos will close.
It is not just the casinos and the hotels that will suffer, but the whole economy, given the local revenue spend in the country by the casinos - taxis, airlines, restaurants, local shops and food and beverage suppliers, all are dependent on the casinos and the hotels and could find their economic lifelines dried up – not to mention the more than 4,000 casino employees, many of them North Cypriot citizens, who could soon be unemployed.
Thomas Automatics win CTcoin distribution deal
Thomas Automatics has added coin and note processing equipment market leaders, CTcoin, to its wide range of existing products. CTcoin, respected internationally for its reliable counting and sorting machines, has awarded Thomas Automatics exclusive rights in the UK to distribute its entire product range. The new deal will see the famous CTcoin ‘Dolphin’ range of high speed note counters and ‘Pelican’ table top coin sorters join the Thomas product line up.
Ian Fuller, Sales & Operations Manager of Thomas Automatics commented: “The CTcoin range of high-speed coin and note processing
machines fit perfectly into the Thomas portfolio. We are delighted to be the UK representatives for these world-class products, which are available from the Thomas sales and support team.”
Søren Krog, Managing Director of CTcoin was equally positive about the new relationship; “Combining our product range of note and coin handling machines with Thomas Automatics proven customer support and technical service gives our client base a unique and highly competitive offering. We are pleased that we now are represented in the UK by a dynamic and professional organisation such as Thomas Automatics.”
G3 I AUGUST 2011 I PAGE 22
The opening of Prague’s latest gaming destination, Casino Bonver, established by Bonver WIN, the exclusive distributor of Interblock products for the Czech and Slovak Republic, was opened in the capital city of Czech Republic in June. Organic Live Roulette with 17 player stations, Organic Card and electro-mechanical Organic Roulette with 14 player stations were launched into the Czech market for the grand opening. Eva Rutova, Business Manager at Bonver WIN, commented: “For many years our company has provided players with the latest technologies available in the Czech market. Interblock’s products have become part of our 75 branches across Czech Republic.”
JCM Global has named Simplicit-e Gaming Solutions an Approved JCM Service Center for Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Under the agreement, Simplicit-e will provide firmware upgrades, service product in the field and at Simplicit-e workshops, train customer support technicians to fully understand and service JCM products, and supply spares for all models of JCM hardware.
TCSJohnHuxley has promoted Brad Broderick to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) for North America. Since joining
the company in 1998, Brad has been an extremely valuable member of the team, first serving as Business Development Manager for Canada and then relocating to Las Vegas in 2007 to take up the position of Vice President of Sales – North America. In this position, he has helped to establish TCSJohnHuxley as market leader in the region. Brad’s new role as COO will see him assume responsibility for the manufacturing facility in Las Vegas, in addition to his existing duties.
IGT has named Eric Berg from SunGard Availability Services to serve as its President subject to regulatory approvals. Mr. Berg’s
appointment was announced by Patti Hart, Chief Executive Officer for IGT, as he now drives the Reno-based firm’s enterprise- wide globalisation efforts while also leading domestic and international land-based revenue growth agendas and managing all of its global sales, products, services, marketing and manufacturing operations. “Eric's strategic insight, operational intensity, and global leadership are perfectly suited to help IGT navigate the next chapter of our business,” said Hart.
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