In an indirect response to what was published by “Nidaa Al-Watan” newspaper, without naming it, the media office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of the Casino du Liban, Charles Ghostine, denied any connection between the casino management and the articles and narratives recently circulating regarding the company’s file, stressing that the attempt to link these materials to sources within the administration “has nothing to do with reality.”
The media office said in a statement, “The casino management has nothing to do with these articles or the narratives contained in them, and that any attempt to link them to their sources has no connection to reality.”
He stressed that the accusations directed by some articles against the Lebanese judiciary and security services do not express the position of the casino management, reiterating its full respect for these institutions and their role and independence in enforcing the law and maintaining justice.
The statement explained that the judicial process that the company went through took place under institutions that enjoy its trust and appreciation, stressing that “any individual diligence does not affect the integrity of the judiciary as a whole, and does not detract from the role of the judges who did justice to the company in this file.”
He added that the administration, based on its legal and moral right to respond, considers that attributing these narratives to it would mislead public opinion and harm the casino, calling for accuracy, objectivity and responsibility in dealing with the issue in the media.
The casino’s statement came after “Nidaa Al Watan” published a new part of a series dealing with the “Beit Arabia” platform and its course of work, and presenting a story about its transition from a modest financial beginning to achieving high revenues following the adoption of the intermediary system.
The newspaper claimed that the platform’s revenue did not exceed 13.8 thousand dollars in its first month, before rising to 23 thousand in the second month and 80 thousand in the third month, at a time when it estimated the size of the illegal betting market at about 20 million dollars per month.
According to the published story, the “OSS” company asked the casino management to take action with the state to close the illegal market, by blocking the violating sites, prosecuting their workers, and corresponding with international companies that provide the programs, but the newspaper claimed that the official authorities did not respond to these demands.
She added that the platform later resorted to attracting brokers who were working in the illegal market, in exchange for allocating them 40%, after the Ministry of Finance agreed to restructure the shares to become 5% for OSS, 15% for the service provider, 40% for the brokers, and 20% for each of the state and Casino du Liban.
The newspaper claimed that the platform’s revenue increased after this amendment from $80,000 to $3.1 million within one month, and that the state’s share increased from $32,000 to $250,000, despite its percentage decreasing from 40% to 20%.
It also claimed that the platform’s revenues for the benefit of the state treasury, directly and indirectly, later reached between 4 and 5 million dollars per month, in parallel with the decline in the size of the illegal market from about 20 million to 5 million dollars per month.
The article included serious and undocumented accusations in the attached text, talking about the movement of parties linked to the illegal market to attack the platform through a network that includes politicians, officers, people within the judiciary, and the media, and linked these allegations to arrest operations that included the president of the casino, company officials, and a number of intermediaries.
Hence, the Casino du Liban administration’s response came to clearly separate its official position from what was stated in the published series, especially the accusations related to the judiciary and security services, stressing that it does not adopt these narratives and does not stand behind their leaking or providing the newspaper with its information.
