Although Olympic Entertainment Group held a soft opening of their Casino Malta in December, the official grand opening was held on Friday, February 12. An invitation-only gala occurred until midnight, when the doors were opened to the public with live music, entertainment, dancers and a cake marking the occasion.
Casino Malta is the largest casino on the island with nearly 3,000 sqm of gaming floor space (+/- 32,000 sq ft). The project is a joint venture between Eden Leisure Group and Olympic Entertainment Group, who are Central Europe’s largest gaming provider with casinos in 8 countries and nearly 100 venues.
Local reports are indicating only a minor bobble in the celebration as although Malta’s Prime Minister did show up for the celebration, the Opposition Leader and shadow ministers did not attend as many expected. Eden Leisure Group also hit back in the press correcting assertions that they had gained the casino concession through only an advance payment, whereas a representative made it clear that, “a spectrum of criteria of which only one was the initial cash offer,” was used to determine the concession and that the winning tender, “surpassed all competing offers by more than €22 million during the lifetime of the licence,” according to a report in the Malta Independent.
Casino Malta is open 24 hours a day and offer nearly 300 state-of-the-art slot machines, two electronic roulette tables, and 29 table games. The Casino Malta Sports Bar also accepts live bets and patrons can use the special terminals provided or access the book right from their iPads.