Palestinians to Cash In on New Casino

JERICHO, West Bank — Rows of towering date palms are already in place, along with glittering brass lamps and plush blue carpeting. And the slot machines are ready to go.

A luxury casino, the first in the Holy Land, is about to open here, in a sand-colored building that has risen like a mirage from the desert floor at the entrance to this biblical city. In a few more weeks, developers say, Jericho, best known for the blare of Joshua’s trumpets and their legendary impact on the city walls, will ring instead with the sound of slot machines and cash registers.

The opening of the Oasis Casino, tentatively scheduled for next month, is the first stage in a $150-million resort complex that its Austrian developers say will include several hotels, restaurants and a golf course on the edge of ancient Jericho, a sleepy, sprawling town that has been under the control of the Palestinian Authority since 1994.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the facility will attract thousands of Israelis and foreign visitors to Jericho and pour much-needed tax revenues into the authority’s coffers. “We think this will be good for tourists and good for the Palestinian Authority too,” said Mitri abu Aita, Arafat’s newly appointed tourism minister.

Israel has no casinos, and efforts to legalize gambling have long been opposed by the country’s powerful religious parties. They are not alone.

Islamic religious leaders in Jericho and throughout the Palestinian areas also have fought the project. Gambling is haram--prohibited by the Koran, they say.

“God said it is forbidden for Muslims to gamble,” said Sheik Harb Jaber, the spiritual leader at Jericho’s main mosque, just up the road from the casino. “It is an immoral idea.”

Bowing to the opposition, in part, the Palestinian Authority has declared that Palestinians will not be allowed to gamble at the Oasis, although several hundred people from the area are expected to find jobs there, ranging from maintenance workers to croupiers.

Samir Hmeidat, 37, is among them. The resident of the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp directly across the road from the casino says he will earn $900 a month as a security guard, far more than he can make at his current job selling souvenirs.

“Working at the casino, from a religious perspective, it’s not acceptable. But we accept it because we need the jobs,” he said. About 50% of the men in Aqabat Jaber are out of work, he said.

As he spoke, Hmeidat and a handful of other men sat outside an unfinished storefront, playing a card game as the sunlight faded to dusk.

The land for the casino project was donated by the Palestinian Authority. Casinos Austria, the developer, holds a 15% stake in the resort, an Austrian bank has 10%, and the rest is held by private investors, including many Palestinians, according to Alexander Tucek, director general of Oasis. And with an eye to its likely clientele, the casino has hired an Israeli firm to handle public relations.

Tucek said the location is ideal: a 30-minute drive from Jerusalem, little more than an hour from Tel Aviv and conveniently close to the popular Israeli spas clustered to the south on the banks of the Dead Sea.

For the first few years, while investors recoup their initial stakes, the Palestinian Authority can expect to earn $2 million to $3 million a year in taxes from the casino, Tucek said. After that, the tax rate will triple to about 30% of the earnings, he said.

Israeli tourism officials, who have tried for years to persuade political leaders to allow the establishment of an Israeli casino in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, are looking on with envy as the Palestinians complete theirs.

“It’s frustrating,” said Shabtai Shay, director general of the Israeli Tourism Ministry. “A casino would be added value to the product in Israel, and we need it.

“On the other hand, in the future, once things become more stable in the region, I hope that Jericho, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and even Jordan will be looked at as one area for tourism,” he said. “The distances are really so small.”