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‘Flying casinos’ planned

Tuesday, May 28, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- Israel has given the go-ahead for "flying casinos" -- specially fitted planes that will give gamblers a four-hour spin in the air.

By leaving Israeli airspace, the planes will get around Israel's gambling ban.

The service is to be run by an airline from Iceland and there will be three flights a day starting in 2003, Israeli officials said today.

The project, a private initiative of Israeli investors and financiers from abroad, is expected to generate about $50 million a year in revenue for Israel, said Yerach Tal, adviser for Transport Minister Ephrahim Sneh.

"Legally, we could not avoid giving them a license. They met all the requirements. We can't stop them running a casino, because it will be outside Israeli borders," Tal said.

Before the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in September 2000, many Israelis would gamble at a casino in the West Bank town of Jericho. Gambling boats in the Red Sea and casinos in nearby Turkey also are popular attractions.

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