Bidluck to contest exclusion for casino concession competition

Bidluck is to contest a decision by the jury of an international public competition to exclude it from putting in a tender for the concession of the Lisbon and Estoril casinos.

The Leiria based company was excluded from the competition on the grounds that a “parcel of land presented by Bidluck SA does not have the conditions to build a casino with the characteristics and capacities that are strictly identical to the current Lisbon Casino building”.
The jury decided that the plot of land for the proposal to build a new casino in Lisbon was allegedly “unviable”.
In a communiqué, the company managed by Jorge Manuel Galvão Miguel states that the competition alleges that: “the land presented by Bidluck SA does not have the conditions to build a casino with the characteristics and valences that a strictly identical to the current building of the Lisbon casino”.
This requirement, according to Bidluck, is a “case of a competition whose rules are clearly disproportionately in favour of Estoril-Sol”, the group controlled by the family of Stanley Ho to whom the gaming concession had been granted for Estoril and Lisbon.
Recalling that the sole criteria for the adjudication is “the best financial offer for the State” and its own offer of €86 million a year (between fixed and variable amounts), “ would mean that the revenues for the public treasury would be at €300 million greater than the amount presented by Estoril-Sol over the 15 years of the concession.” Bidluck emphasises that it is its “intention to legally challenge the decision, to the final consequences what is the best financial proposal for the State”.
Bidluck has five working days to contest the decision. The Estoril-Sol Group was notified by the jury about the competition on 26 October through a preliminary analysis report of the offers that has been presented.
The concessions for the gaming rooms at Estoril, Lisbon and Figueira da Foz should have ended at the end of 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was extended for two years.