With new casino, Syria bets on openness to world

The glittering casino showcases Syria's gradual shedding of its socialist past in favor of the free market. At a time when economic discontent is shaking Tunisia and Egypt, President Bashar Assad is gambling that gradual change can insulate his country from such tumult.

But for this country's secular regime, Casino Damascus may be too much for devout Muslims to swallow. "Gambling is a grave sin," said Mohammed Habash, member of parliament and director of the Islamic Studies Center, who puts it on a par with drug abuse. "We must use all legal means to prevent gambling from entering our lives."

The first casino in Syrian history opened near Damascus on December 25, near a luxury hotel complex built near the international airport. An Nahar reports that the Damascus casino, managed by the joint Syrian-international company Ocean Club, and currently ''open on an experimental basis'', offers the most common games used for gambling, such as Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack and slot machines.

Entrance to the new structure costs nine dollars (just over 6 euros) per person, with the fee inclusive of an alcoholic drink, and the aim is to attract wealthy local clients as well as those from Iraq and Jordan who for years have crowded round the green tables of Lebanon's casino, the most famous one in the entire Middle East.

The casino is hardly as glamorous as those in neighboring Lebanon or Turkey, but officials hope it will help shed Syria's image as a rigid, closed country and attract tourists from oil- rich Arab countries.

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Casinos are rare in Arab countries; many use Islamic law, which forbids gambling. On a recent night, however, the smoke-filled Casino Damascus was operating at full capacity. Coins jingled in slot machines, and smartly dressed men and women placed bets at baccarat, blackjack and roulette tables.

The owner is Syrian businessman Khaled Hboubati, whose father owned a casino in the same place before it was closed down in the mid-1970s during Hafez Assad's three decades of iron-fisted rule.

His son, a British-trained eye doctor, has moved slowly to lift Soviet-style economic restrictions. He has let in foreign banks, thrown the doors open to imports, authorized private universities and empowered the private sector. “It shows a desire on the part of the Syrian government to portray a more liberal Syria in terms of societal behaviors," said editor Yazigi.