Grand opening of the Castle Casino in Vaduz

Over the weekend, Liechtenstein officials opened a new casino titled Castle Casino in the capital city of Vaduz, i.e. its pedestrian area.

Total number of casinos in Liechtenstein:

As gambling in Liechtenstein has been legal since 2010, in the past few years, Liechtenstein has opened 5 casinos to fulfill its main goal of attracting gamblers from neighboring countries. However, recently the total number of casinos experienced a rapid decline from 6 to 4, following the closure of 96 in Balzers and Casino Maximus in Shan.

But the opening of the new establishment brought the number of casinos in Liechtenstein back to 5.

Layout of the casino:

The oft-announced Castle Casino obtained a casino license from the Lichtenstein gambling regulator at the Office of Economic Affairs on December 14, 2022, and can begin accepting bets from Friday, December 16, 2022.

It offers a wide selection of games on two floors, with 120 slot machines, 8 gaming tables and includes the longest bar in Liechtenstein.

The first casino in Liechtenstein fully operated by Liechtensteiners:

Funded by Liechtenstein investors, Castle Casino is the first and only casino owned and managed by Liechtensteiners.

The operational management consists of Michael Moosleithner and Thomas Banzer, who worked at Casinos Austria Liechtenstein prior to this and Eros Ganzina, who most recently served as Gaming Manager at the Grand Casino in Bendern.

Casino opposition:

Although casinos are one of the most profitable facilities for the state’s gaming and non-gaming revenue, there was and still is a large group of people in Liechtenstein who oppose the idea of Liechtenstein having casinos at all.

Hansjörg Frick, a former politician and a founder of a group opposed to the casinos, IG VolksMeinung, said: “Liechtenstein doesn’t need casinos and the money that they bring. We don’t want to be associated with them.”

In this regard, Christian Frommelt, the director of the Liechtenstein Institut, an independent research organization, said: “Casinos are likely to remain a divisive issue. It is rare that such a big debate takes place in Liechtenstein and that the issue is so politicized.

“The casinos pitted the rural country’s conservative values, rooted in Catholicism, against its liberal economic ones, which have made Liechtenstein one of the world’s leading financial centers. Casinos create a conflict between these two worlds.”

On January 29, 2023, a referendum will be held to decide the fate of casinos in the country, which means that there is a possibility of banning casinos.

The Liechtenstein gambling regulator will not accept any new casino applications until December 31, 2025.