Even though it’s a relatively mundane process that has been done countless times by all and sundry worldwide. It’s been a different case with Greek officials who have made it a very tedious process. For several months now, these Greek officials have delayed and made all sorts of excuses to hinder casino operators from submitting their bids. These bids are part of a resort project that would be carried out in the country.
When it seemed everything was back on track and progress is about to be made, the process hit yet another snag. This happened because of one applicant, and immediately, the process was delayed again. Frustrated and tired of how the process is going, the two finalists for the bid, have decided to take matters into their own hands.
They are concluding plans on how they’ll sue Greece in order to call them to order. From the onset, this should have been routine paperwork, but now, it has become a massive embarrassment for the nation.
Hard Rock International (HRI) and Mohegan Gaming are the only two companies that have been patient enough to endure the multitude of delays posed by the Greek government. It can even be said that the officials have always found one excuse or the other to make sure the tender process does not go smoothly.
The moment the government gave the go-ahead for bids to be submitted, each company did not delay in turning in their paperwork. However, there was a slight problem as one company apparently did not get it right. According to Calvin Ayre, this will lead to more delays and if care is not taken, the delay could extend to 6 months.
From our findings, the company responsible for this latest snag is none other than HRI, but they are working assiduously to fix it. However, reports from the media outlet show that the casino operator is on the verge of disqualification.
If this were to happen, HRI would have no other option than to take Greece to court. On the other hand, Mohegan Sun stated that they would not hesitate to sue Greece either should they award the license to their competitor, HRI. Mohegan said that their competitor did not obey the rules as stipulated and that is enough reason for them to be disqualified.
It is now unrealistic to actualize plans to begin work on the construction of the casino this year. The pending lawsuit the Greek government is facing on all side is a huge problem. In a situation where HRI outperforms its competitor and wins the bid, a long drawn-out court case is unavoidable.
This is the kind of situation the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis wants to avoid at all costs. The aim of the project was to boost the country’s economy and not to get caught in legal disputes.
For more than 4 years now, the proposal to have a large resort in Hellinikon has been in the works but has never materialized. Syriza Party, which is the ruling party expressed their displeasure at the thought of having companies from outside Greece investing the country.
Although most local companies don’t have the required capital to invest. This has caused a lot of problems for the Greek economy. Now that there’s a new government in power, there’s renewed optimism that things would change for good.
