US casino operator Hard Rock International (HRI) has lost its latest bid to challenge the awarding of a Greek casino license to rival Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE).

On Thursday, Greece’s Council of State, the nation’s top administrative court, rejected HRI’s appeal of the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) decision to award MGE the sole casino license for the €8b Hellinikon integrated resort project.

The HGC awarded the license to MGE and its local construction partner GEK Terna in January after disqualifying HRI – the only other operator to make the finals of this derby – due to HRI’s alleged failure to provide a bank guarantee demonstrating the company’s capacity to fund a project of Hellinikon’s magnitude.

HRI CEO Jim Allen scoffed at this view, saying the National Bank of Greece had missed the filing of this guarantee by a mere four days, while simultaneously claiming that HRI had “the strongest financial balance sheet in the industry.” HRI has also alleged that the HGC favored MGE’s bid from the start, based on an MGE lawyer’s presence on the Hellinikon license tender committee.