Knesset Interior Committee Chairman Ophir Paz-Pines warned Tourism Ministry officials that there won’t be a legal casino in Israel anytime soon, despite plans by the Eilat Municipality and the Tourism Ministry to build the country’s first casino. Despite plans by the Eilat Municipality and the Tourism Ministry to build the country’s first casino, Paz-Pines remained adamant that the Knesset would never legalize gambling.

Tourism Ministry officials have recently closed a deal with the Israel Land Administration to apportion 12 acres of land on Eilat’s northern shore for Israel’s first legal casino. Hotels, commercial trading centers and other tourism venues are expected to be established in the area. Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch expressed his faith in the project and said this first casino would be the harbinger of additional legal gambling institutes in Israel.

Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who recently launched the world’s biggest gambling complex, may have given up on hopes of establishing a casino in Israel, but Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Monday said he plans to push hard for a legal gambling house in the southern city of Eilat. Aharonovitch made the announcement Monday at a meeting of the Knesset Economics Committee where he presented the ministry’s work plan for 2008.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is pushing for a casino in Eilat, after three years of freezing the matter. Two teams are currently studying the possibility of establishing a gambling resort, TheMarker has learned. A month ago Olmert ordered the establishment of a group, led by the treasury’s director general, Yarom Ariav, to study the issue and to prepare a master plan. At the same time, the outgoing head of the Mifal Hapayis national lottery, Shimon Katznelson, has been discussing the possibility of the lottery running a casino with Raanan Dinur…