The Republic of Cyprus has officially awarded its lone casino license to the joint venture of Melco International Development and Hard Rock International.

On Friday, the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism announced that the Melco-Hard Rock tandem’s bid had been found compliant with the terms of the casino license tender. The winners have therefore been officially invited to apply for a permit to put shovels to dirt.

The Cypriot government approved legislation in July 2015 authorizing the development of a single resort casino. By February 2016, the government had narrowed the field of applicants down to three: Melco-Hard Rock, Cambodia’s NagaCorp and the Philippines’ Bloomberry Resorts.

But Bloomberry dropped out of the race in September without explanation, and NagaCorp followed suit one week later, reportedly due to difficulties in reaching a deal with the owners of the land on which NagaCorp wished to build.