Time of changes in the gaming industry, especially in physical gaming. Many places are having to readjust given the proliferation of online casinos and the modality of online entertainment. What happens is that there are those who succeed and others who don’t succeed so much and end up falling behind.
Just a week ago, Casino Admiral de San Roque made the difficult decision to close, leaving more than 60 employees in an uncertain future. And on the contrary, there were 200 employees who benefited from the future opening of Unnic Casino in Andorra. As we say: some arrive and others go.
But from this month of April, the goal seems to have been a market that is gradually reactivating its confidence and strength. The Acrismatic Group, a conglomerate of companies specializing in gambling, announced the search to open a new store in the Valencian Community, where it carries out its main activities. The humble town of Ondara will have a casino late this year or early next.
The factory has been struggling to obtain a new facility for some time, having already submitted a project to the Generalitat Valenciana in 2021 to open a new gaming center. And in October last year, she was given the green light to continue administrative procedures, which are no small feat in the industry.
Now Ondara City Council will be responsible for overseeing that all documentation is in order and that the plan is viable. The council must grant Acrismatic the building permit on the one hand and the municipal activity permit on the other. The latter can only be granted if the municipal body gives the green light. But that’s what it’s all about.
And according to local and regional media, the company would already be clear on the site and warehouse where it plans to build. I would in the commercial area of Les Marjals, where the Ondara shopping center “Portal de la Marina” is located, and that would house the first casino in the Marina Alta region. A key area for tourism in the province of Alicante.
It must be remembered that in the municipality there is a benchmark for this type of leisure business, which is none other than the Casino Cirsa Valencia, one of the best halls in Spain today. In Alicante it would not be the first experience with Acrismatic as it already is has three other casinos in the provincial capital, in Benidorm and in Orihuela. There are three smaller game rooms in Castalla, Moraira and Calpe.
But the provinces of Valencia and Castellón are not spared from the group’s expansion either, as they have eight more theaters spread across these areas. The Attache seems willing to continue investing in the latest technology and intends to integrate slots, roulette, blackjack and other popular games into the new casino. Also poker games.
There are no details on the dimensions yet, but the builder has stressed that it won’t be as big as the rest of its casinos. Yes, it will be a standard gaming room as it is normally operated, although the selected area will be re-adapted to accommodate the needs of Casinos del Mediterráneo, as the global brand of Acrismatic branches is known.
And another thing they have assured is this will immediately employ 70 people, without being able to calculate exactly how this will affect other companies and employees who could benefit from their arrival. It doesn’t have a nickname either, but it might have the name of the town there 2023, when it should be ready for the inauguration. Although the deadlines always depend on the delays in the processes, they are rather indicative.
The thing is, the casino is responding to an attempt to improve the number and type of visitors Marina Alta receives. The region, which includes the north of the province of Alicante and lies on the northern border with Valencia, is a coastal area full of geographical features, traditionally dedicated to fishing and agriculture until the 1960s when the tertiary sector began to be promoted with the tourist boom.
Denia, Jávea and Calpe, strangely the cities with the highest population, are the main attractions for foreign family tourism focused on summer and the beach. Ondara is only a few kilometers from the coast, which is why Portal de la Marina is the dominant shopping center with the largest capacity for development and reform plans in the region. The influence reached Gandía.
The Les Marjals complex is in a third phase of development with a budget of almost 200,000 euros. The aim is therefore to further revitalize the area with the property. The first phase of 2019 and the second of 2021 were successful and with a new casino in the area everything can be better.
Ondar Town Hall has yet to get all documentation up to date and provide enough help to allow the game space to thrive. However, the sensations surrounding the project are very good. Only a very radical change would paralyze or suspend the addition of a new member to the list of Spanish casinos.
