Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment, one of the biggest casino operators in the world which owns over 50 casinos worldwide, is searching paths to build a EUR 350 million resort casino in Ireland. Its executives have been lobbying Irish government departments about changes to gambling legislation, and have made representations to the Department of Justice earlier this year. This initiative came up at a time when the outgoing Irish Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, was about to introduce new legislation aimed at legalization of licensed casinos and establishing a gambling commission to regulate the business. New legislation is only likely to follow from a cross-party committee, which Lenihan had sought to establish before leaving the Department of Justice early in May.
Harrah's Entertainment specializes in resort casinos, which include other facilities like hotels, restaurants, bars, spa, and exclusive retail outlets. The Harrah's executives emphasize that gambling sector in their resorts normally occupies not more than 10 per cent of the total floor space.
An Irish Harrah's casino resort would include a 200-300 room four-star hotel and other leisure facilities, creating up to 2,000 jobs.
Currently Harrah's Entertainment operates 36 casinos in the US, as well as others in Britain, Canada, Macau, Uruguay and Egypt. It has joint gambling ventures with Indian tribes in three American states, and is completing a EUR 2.5 billion casino resort with local partners outside Madrid.
In 2007, Harrah's Entertainment had revenues of EUR 7 billion and a reported net profit of EUR 380 million. It has 35,000 hotel rooms related to casinos throughout the world.
With the opening of the new Irish convention centre in 2010, and the need to introduce legislation to cover existing private gambling clubs, several major international casino and online gaming companies have shown interest in setting up in Ireland.
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