A private consortium led by businessman Oscar Merlo has acquired the Necochea Casino complex in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, through a public auction held on June 10.
The buyer, operating under the company name A Toda Vela Mar, paid ARS4.878bn ($3.4m) for the nearly 26,500-square-meter seafront property after no competing offers were registered. The group is backed by investors with ties to the gaming industry, including Casinos Victoria, which is expected to play a role in expanding the facility's gaming floor.
The complex, designed by architect Roberto Quiroz and built between 1968 and 1975, operated as a full entertainment destination for decades before entering a prolonged period of decline from 2015, when concession agreements covering its confectionery, bowling alley, restaurant, swimming pool and ice-skating rink all lapsed.
Three fires, including one in 2020 that destroyed the oval-shaped auditorium, compounded the structural damage caused by coastal erosion and vandalism. The auditorium structure was not included in this auction and will be subject to a separate sale process.
Merlo said: "It is a problem, it is an adventure, it is an illusion, all of that together. Necochea has great potential and we want it to have visitors not just in summer but year-round."
A small gaming room with table games including roulette, cards and dice currently operates within the complex and employs between 60 and 70 workers. The new owners plan to prioritize that operation in the first phase of investment, to add slot machines, which have never been installed at the site due to the poor state of the infrastructure.
A provincial preliminary feasibility review is already underway to allow modifications to urban planning indicators that would permit high-rise construction on the property's parking areas.
Arturo Rojas, Mayor of Necochea, said: "Today is a historic, pivotal day for the future of Necochea."
Juan Manuel Vernengo, Provincial Director of Racetracks and Casinos, confirmed that the province expects to work with the new owners on the building's condition and expressed support for maintaining existing jobs at the gaming room.
The sale could work as a potential anchor for broader tourism investment along Necochea's Atlantic coast.
Under Ordinance 12,009, which authorized the sale with 18 of 20 council votes, 70% of proceeds will fund infrastructure works across the Necochea district and 20% will go toward essential public services
