The parliament of Cyprus has finally passed legislation which will allow the building of a huge casino resort in the government-held south of the Mediterranean island. The minimum requirement for this complex will be 100 gaming tables and around 1000 machines. Besides this, the operator will be allowed to have a smaller satellite casino and another three-machine-only outlet.

This project will help boost tourism for the island and employment as well. Experts estimate that around 25000 new jobs will be created by this resort. A spokesman for the government named Nicos Christodoulides had this to say: “Procedures are going ahead fast and the government’s aim is to select and license the operator of the Integrated Resort Casino in less than a year from today. This will be one of the most important infrastructure projects in Cyprus in the coming years.”

The person who has won the bid for this 30-year gambling license will get to choose where they want to build the casino and the government hopes they will be able to open by 2018 if everything goes according to plan.

This “Super Casino” will apparently include malls, restaurants, shopping and entertainment venues, unlike anything we have seen in Europe. It is said that it will rival some casinos which are currently dominating the Las Vegas strip. It will also attract a lot of tourists, the estimates being of about a million extra tourists per year.