Exchange of the casino oligarchs
Although 2023 also brought excellent results, the previous owner Gábor Szima decided to sell both casinos to Árpád Habony and István Garancsi, reports the government-critical business portal mfor.hu. The two oligarchs Habony and Garancsi now own a total of seven casinos.
Cívis Grand Casino Kft. and Onyx Casino Kft. are now jointly owned by Enter-TNMNT Invest Zrt. – a company affiliated with Habony – and Garinvest Zrt. – where Garancsi pulls the strings – and therefore hold the concession rights.
The casino in Debrecen closed last year with a turnover of 4 billion forints and a profit of 1.3 billion forints. The casino in Nyíregyháza achieved a turnover of 1.7 billion forints and a profit of 535 million forints.
Since the stricter regulations on the awarding of licences, there are no longer a dozen casinos in the country, with the Habony-Garancsi duo now clearly holding the majority. Legally, the operation of a total of twelve casinos would be permitted: 5 in Budapest, 4 in western Hungary and 3 in eastern Hungary.