Exchange of the casino oligarchs

Written by Bettina Nemes

The casinos in Debrecen and Nyíregyháza have changed hands.

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.