Silver Heritage to open casino in Kathmandu, expand in Nepal

Hong Kong-based Silver Heritage is opening a casino in the Shangri-La Hotel & Resort in Kathmandu as part of a planned $100 million in phased investments in five-star facilities across Nepal.

The company also said it’s developing a hotel and conference resort in the city of Bhairahawa.

The new casino, The Millionaire’s Club & Casino will be a boutique casino operating under the new Nepal gaming regulations, and will house 22 live gaming tables and 40 electronic gaming machines.

The casino will be primarily aimed at providing expanded gaming opportunities for customers from the growing Indian and Chinese markets, as well as the growing expatriate community living in Nepal. It is expected to open its doors during Q1 2015.

“Silver Heritage Limited has been looking to invest in the Nepali tourism and recreation industry since 2011 and we are confident the Kathmandu opportunity and our development of other resorts in Nepal represent a huge opportunity given Nepal’s proximity to both India and China’s massive and growing middle class consumer, and Nepal's cultural affinity with its Southern neighbour,” SHL CEO Mike Bolsover said.

The Bhairahawa resort will be known as Tiger Palace and will feature 300 rooms built over two phases and will include conference facilities. It may also eventually include a casino.

Construction is currently underway and Tiger Palace is expected to open in 2016.

SHL, which is also expanding its presence in Vietnam and the Philippines, expects to open at least two more resorts in Nepal before the end of 2018 to meet the growing demand in South Asia.

“We believe the work we are undertaking in Nepal will help the Nepali government achieve their goals by encouraging inbound tourism, particularly from India and China, and stimulating the local and national economy through our planned phased investment of more than US$100 million in developing a chain of 5 star resort facilities across Nepal,” COO Tim Shepherd said.

The casino project needs to be put forward to the Tourism Ministry for final approval, though Tulasi Gautam, director general of the Department of Tourism said the company has met all the requirements.

Nepal’s casino industry is expected to begin reopening after the government shut down all seven properties in April for the first time in the country’s history after they failed to comply with new regulations that came into force in July 2013.

 

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