KC Bidding, related to the planned King’s City tourist-complex at Hungary’s Lake Velence, has won a concession tender for the establishment and the 20-year operation of a casino in the Central Transdanubia region, the Finance Ministry said on Friday.
KC Bidding was the sole bidder in the tender.
The Finance Ministry called a tender in February this year for a “category I” casino in the Central Transdanubia region containing at least 1,500 slot machines and 100 gaming tables. The minimum registered capital of casinos in the category I is HUF 1bn.
The ministry noted the contract for the concession will be signed only after KC Bidding provides guarantees regarding carrying out its investment and professional plans as stated in its bid as well as regarding the legal status of real estate connected to the tender.
On July 22, the Pest County Land Office said the regional land office rejected for technical reasons a land transfer between the Hungarian State Holding Company (MNV) and Israeli-Hungarian citizen Joav Blum involving property on the shore of Lake Velence, the site of the planned King’s City project. Mr Blum has 30 days to appeal the decision.
An investment group composed of U.S., Israeli, German and Hungarian entrepreneurs, which includes Mr Blum, announced this spring that it was planning to build a EUR 1.5bn tourist complex, including a casino, on a 70-hectare site located on the outskirts of Sukoro (C Hungary) near Lake Velence.
There are currently five casinos operating in Hungary, two in Budapest and one each in Sopron (W Hungary), Gyor (NW Hungary) and Kecskemet (C Hungary). The state operates the casinos in Gyor and Kecskemet, while the others run on a concession basis. None of the five casinos are category I.