The National Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission of Cyprus has given a brief insight into the country’s casino scene, incorporating the first six months of operations on the Mediterranean island.

This comes as Melco International Development constructs its €550m City of Dreams Mediterranean complex in Limassol, as part of which, due to an exclusive agreement with Cyprus’ government, the company is able to open one temporary and four satellite establishments.

Limassol was the first to witness a grand opening in June of last year, with its temporary entity set to remain in operation until the larger casino resort is complete.

Following this, Cyprus Casinos Nicosia, or C2 Nicosia, was the initial satellite casino to swing open its doors, doing so in early December, before Cyprus Casinos Larnaca, also known as C2 Larnaca, situated at its International Airport – Glafcos Clerides, opened later in the same month.

For the six month period spanning June 2018 to January 2019 inclusive, Cyprus’ House of Representatives announced that €210m have been bet at the three establishments.

Of these, it was stated “€175m have been reimbursed to the players as winnings, and the operator was left with a €35m revenue, of which the Republic of Cyprus received a 15 per cent tax or €5.25m”.

Revealing further details of the meeting, Cyprus Mail Online reports that approximately 470,000 individuals has visited the three establishments, a large proportion of which (80 per cent) were Cypriot, followed 5 per cent originating from Israel, 4 per cent from Greece and 11 per cent representing foreign nationals.

Despite not yet seeing the large increase in tourist visitation that is expected, commission chairman Christos Mavrellis reiterated a belief that 300,000 additional tourists per year will be welcomed to the island when the large complex opens, which is expected to be in early 2021.

This was backed up as he stressed one application has already been received from a tour operator, who has interest in bringing foreign gamblers to Cyprus.

City of Dreams Mediterranean is billed as Europe’s biggest integrated casino resort and is expecting to bring a financial impact on the Cypriot economy to tune of approximately €700m per year, around four per cent of annual GDP..

It’s gaming area is set be installed with 36 tables and 1,200 gaming machines, with the complex also featuring a five-star hotel with luxurious villas and 500 hotel rooms, 11 restaurants and cafeterias, a wellness centre, a sports centre, an extensive pool area with river woods and surf pools, a high-end retail area and an outdoor amphitheatre with extensive green areas.