Casino du Liban has paid $13 million to the Treasury this month in response to the Finance Ministry's demand for a share of slot-machine revenues, the Daily Star reported.
The paper said that Casino du Liban chairman Elie Ghorayeb met Finance Minister Fouad Siniora this week in an attempt to sort out the issue of the government's share of slot machine revenues. The chairman said that the $13 million covered all the outstanding payments from 1996 to 1999.
The Finance Ministry, the paper added, has yet to comment publicly on whether it believes this amount was sufficient.
Slot machines generate more than 35 percent of the gross revenues of the casino, which reached more than $85 million in 1999.
Ghorayeb told the paper he forecasts net profits of almost $20 million for the casino this year, up from $16 million in 1999, and $12 million in 1998 -- Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
