Liechtenstein Lawsuit
Legal problems delay opening of country's first casino
Liechtenstein will have to wait a little longer to see its first casino.
The recent awarding of the principality’s first casino license to the Casino Vaduzerhof AG project in the main town of Vaduz is the subject of a lawsuit submitted by Casino Admiral AG, which had also bid for the license.
Casino Admiral AG is a subsidiary of the Novomatic Group of Companies.
The Thurgauer Zeitung surmises that the complaint is focused on the fact that the Casino Vaduzerhof AG submission named Casinos Austria as partner, but that during the process Casinos Austria withdrew and was replaced by Swiss operator Grand Casino Baden.
Lack of interest in the hotel portion of the project was reportedly the reason behind Casinos Austria’s decision to withdraw.
The case will be handled in administrative court, but could be appealed in a higher Liechtenstein court.
Even should the case be decided in favor of the Vaduzerhof project, which also includes a hotel and conference center, completion is expected to be delayed by several months. Originally, the developer was shooting for opening by the end of 2014.
One beneficiary of the delay is expected to be the small Casino Bad Ragaz in Switzerland, just a few kilometers south of Vaduz. The casino is owned and operated by Novomatic’s Swiss subsidiary.
