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Betting on the Euro6 September 2001At the stroke of midnight on New Year''s Eve, any bets placed in any of the 12 European currencies switching to the Euro, will come back or be lost to gamblers in Euros. The heads of over 500 casinos in Europe are hoping on major profits when the euro officially enters circulation on January 1st, 2002. This month, casinos will begin to receive their allotment of the new banknotes and coins. France''s casinos, like those in neighboring Monaco (an "unofficial" Euro-zone participant), are anticipating that the costs of the changeover from national money to euros will be more than compensated by a big rise in their income. At the Casino Le Lyon Vert in Lyon, France''s biggest casino, making the 1.5 million new tokens at the Paris Mint will only cost about $180,000, the average take of the machines in one day and changing the one-armed bandits over to euros will cost only about two days'' revenues. French researchers have speculated in the media that the annual casino take in the new era of the euro could reach or even surpass $2 billion. As part of the preparations that began three years ago, Casino Austria is planning on switching over their tokens at midnight at the end of the year. According to Casino Austria spokeswoman Bettina Strobich, "they''ll have a different diameter and weight from the old tokens" denominated in the Austrian schilling. Casinos believe that business will increase because of the sheer novelty of people eager to use the new currency at the tables. The euro has already been circulating electronically for nearly two years, showing a 500 percent growth in euro E-commerce since last year. |