After the civil war Lebanon’s telephone system was rebuilt and revamped and Investcom (part of Mikati’s company) launched the first Advanced Mobile Phone System in 1991. Big companies such as Ericsson and Alcatel were allotted certain regions and the country upgraded its telephone system to digital.
GSM technology was introduced and two mobile phone contracts were awarded in 1994 to Cellis (owned by France Telecom and Investcom) plus Libancell (owned by Telecom Finland and other investors). Te first GSM call was introduced at the end of 1994 and by 1996 Lebanon had 200,000 mobile phone users, more than any other Arab state.
Fixed line telecommunications remained the monopoly of OGERO. Although the development of internet infrastructure has been fairly slow today there is a high internet penetration with around 78 per cent internet users in 2021. Tis service is managed by OGERO via the Ministry of Telecommunications and consists of submarine fibre optic cables which provide the bulk of the international bandwidth. Te three main gateways are operated by OGERO and located in Ras Beirut, Jdeideh and Tripoli. OGERO also doubles up as an ISP.
Currently there are huge issues with internet outages in Lebanon. Te 2,500 employees at OGERO are requesting an increase in salaries and social allowance under the current economic crisis which in turn led to strike action in the summer and network failures as employees refuse to work.
One of the issues is a shortage of diesel to run the power generators fuelling the communications company and sporadic and prolonged outages of internet access.
Meanwhile in terms of online gambling, although this is regulated, it is heavily restricted and legalised online gambling is limited to online casino gambling via the Casino du Liban and online lottery via the monopoly La Libanaise des Jeux. However, the casino
P66 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
Currently there are huge issues with internet outages in Lebanon. The 2,500 employees at OGERO are requesting an increase in salaries and social
allowance, which in turn led to strike action in the summer and network
failures as employees refuse to work. One of the issues is a shortage of diesel to run the power generators.
currently offers no online gambling activity despite its monopoly.
Launching an online site has been discussed for years. A draft decree was first filed in 2012 to regulate online gambling and despite several amendments it has been continually brushed aside. In 2017 there was a public tender aimed at finding a partner for developing an online gambling platform with Casino du Liban but nothing concrete happened.
Back in 2018 it was said the country had lost millions of dollars in revenue due to illegal gambling operators flourishing whilst the online gambling bill gathered dust in congress.
Beirut houses one horse racing facility at the Hippodrome du Parc de Beyrouth and the racecourse is the only one in the Middle East where betting on horse racing is authorised.
Horse racing was first licensed in Beirut back in 1880 although the track has been at its current location since 1916 when a franchise was
awarded to Alfred Sursock during the Ottoman Empire to create a facility which included a racetrack and casino in the pine forest in the south of Beirut city.
Initially back in the late 1800s the ‘al-Marmah’ hippodrome was founded in the town of Beir Hassan until it was moved to its city centre site.
Te casino became the seat of the French mandate and the racetrack a hub for wealthy Lebanese. It became one of the busiest racetracks in the world during the booming 1960s and also Israeli occupied during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Since then it has been partly rebuilt although much of the original grandstand and historic area were lost in the bombings.
Today, the hippodrome offers weekly meetings of seven races held all year round whilst French races are featured live on screen. It is the site for other events such as horse shows, garden shows and some festivals. Visitor figures reach around one to two thousand per event.
Horse racing is a long-standing tradition in Lebanon and previously held in the Tyre Hippodrome and Beirut Roman race track. Te Roman Hippodrome was discovered in 1988 and is found in the historic Jewish quarter of Beirut. It has been turned into a tourist landmark and is currently protected.
Currently the hippodrome is sat on 20 hectares of land owned by the municipality and races and associated betting are run by Sparca who are actively trying to preserve the horse racing sector.
Te hippodrome is under threat of survival due to the economic collapse and there is a fear the municipality will sell off the valuable land it sits on (often cited as the ‘last green lung of Beirut) to property developers who are interested. Sparca wants to encourage investment into the hippodrome and improve the venue with new stands and restaurants to draw in a larger audience.
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