The Eden Leisure Group has advertised the opening of its casino next month, though the target date for a decision on a development permit is not due until April.
The leisure company wants to develop a casino in Paceville at the Intercontinental Hotel. But the application seeking alterations to the existing hotel at basement level and change of use to a casino is still being considered, according to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
Its licence for the casino is also still being considered by the Malta Gaming Authority.
The December opening for the casino was flaunted on billboards that had to be pulled down on orders of the MGA, since they were considered to be in breach of gaming laws.
The Times of Malta is informed that last week a rival casino company filed an official complaint on the “irregular works” already underway to transform part of the Intercontinental Hotel into a casino.
However, according to Mepa, a site inspection carried out last Tuesday concluded that no permits were needed for the ongoing works but confirmed the application for change of use was still pending.
The application was filed by entrepreneur Kevin Decesare on behalf of the Eden Leisure Group.
A visit by this newspaper yesterday to the place where the casino is to be housed, in the location formerly occupied by the popular Euphoria discotheque, showed significant ongoing works both on the façade and inside the premises.
In its official objection to the development application, the operators of the Dragonara Casino said “the work indicated in Mr Decesare’s application have already commenced and most of the works have been completed”.
The complaint also states that the application could not be validated by Mepa without clearance from the Malta Tourism Authority and the Malta Gaming Authority.
Asked whether the ongoing works were covered by a permit, a spokesman for the Eden Group said the ongoing works were “internal works and purely refurbishment and decoration and do not require a permit”.
Asked about the fact that the target date for the Mepa application was four months after the advertised opening date, the spokesman said: “It is expected that the licence will be awarded closer to the actual opening date of the casino – once the authority can see all the machines and surveillance systems in place.”
Meanwhile, the Malta Gaming Authority ordered the group to pull down the billboards.
The MGA said it had not committed itself to granting a licence by December. Asked to comment on the billboards, the Eden spokesman said: “We felt [the billboards] respected the law in as much as there was no mention of a casino or any future operation of Casino Malta. We took them down within a day of being asked to do so [by the MGA].”