Eilat’s Mayor Gadi Kadosh has in recent weeks been conducting initial negotiations with a group of Israeli businessmen and investment firms, and also with companies managing and operating casinos in other countries. Kadosh is looking for a suitable concern to operate a floating casino in Eilat, in the territorial waters of Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Kadosh confirmed the report.
Kadosh outlined the plan, following a meeting he held a few months ago with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at which he expressed himself in favour of setting up a floating casino. Netanyahu also encouraged Kadosh to take steps to set up the project with a group of private investors.
The plan calls for the entrepreneur tendering the best bid to purchase a large North Sea oil rig. This will be reconstructed and fitted out as a casino.
It will be positioned in the territorial waters of Israel, Jordan and Egypt, in the Eilat-Aqaba-Tabcha triangle. The rig will be permanently anchored in that area. Also, a number of boats will be purchased to ferry customers to and from the Eilat port anchorage and the rig.
Kadosh reported that he had obtained favourable responses, and that the details of the plan and his proposal are being examined by the entrepreneurs and their legal advisers. This is mainly so that they can examine the legal aspects of operating a casino and whether any national laws will be violated, even though the casino is to operate in international waters.
Published by Israel's Business Arena August 26, 1998