The Casinò di Venezia, in Vittoriosa reopened its doors yesterday evening as it was given the green light to start operating again after the Gaming Authority had cancelled its licence on July 17.

A casino spokesman said the requirements of the Gaming Authority were satisfied and it was, therefore, back in business after over three weeks of being shut – a period that has translated into the loss of a few hundreds of thousands of liri, he said, hoping it would be recuperated in due course.

The authority board met yesterday afternoon, the spokesman said, and the casino opened its doors last night.

Its directors have taken the necessary action, putting the „right“ managers in place and not „any Tom, Dick and Harry“ to avoid a repetition of incidents that had led to its closure, he said.

A Maltese general manager has been appointed and an Italian assistant general manager is being sent over from Venice, the spokesman said.

Following the incidents that occurred on July 9, the night of the World Cup final, which have been described as „shameful, disgusting and unacceptable“, 14 members of staff were fired.

The casino was now in the process of employing others and had gathered its remaining staff to have an adequate complement to operate.

The spokesman said the Gaming Authority required a qualified general manager and had accepted the casino board’s proposal.

The authority had cancelled the casino’s licence due to the fact that it had insufficient human resources to run it following the sackings, which included that of the general manager.

Its human resources capacity was lower in numbers and standards than was required, and the casino could not continue to operate without the proper segregation of duties, the authority had said. It would have had to employ new staff to have enough human resources to run it.