This week sees the gambling group, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., divulge its interest in managing a casino in Slovakia. This comes as no surprise as the casino company is still searching for a low cost expansion into the Eastern European market.

TriGranit, a Hungarian developer, and the Las Vegas based casino giant signed a nonobligatory letter of intent to supervise casinos and hotels which would be part of a 2 billion dollar varied development. The project was confirmed by the Jan Jones, the senior vice president of communications and government relations, and will be known as "Metropolis" just outside of Bratislava in Slovakia.

HarrahÂ's previously have made several unsuccessful attempts to enter into Eastern Europe. An earlier attempt to partner with a Slovenian company to develop a casino was abandoned last year. Gambling is legal in most Eastern European countries but only a few large casino resorts have been approved, so Harrah's believes that there is a huge potential market in Slovakia as gamblers from Russia, Norway, Italy and Austria will have access.

The plan for Harrah's is that they would contribute less than $50 million to the project and there is still no guarantee that the deal will go through. TriGranit will need necessary governmental approvals to proceed with the development and Harrah's involvement is dependent on this, and even if it all succeeds, it will still be some time before the project materialises.