Project to open after years of delays
Three weeks before its planned soft opening to the public, the Baha Mar casino resort was issued a gaming license for its casino.
The license to operate the largest casino in the Caribbean was the last remaining hurdle to the planned April 21 soft opening of Baha Mar Casino and Hotel, the first phase of the massive Baha Mar resort project that eventually will offer six hotels and a full range of amenities the Bahamian government hopes will revise tourism in the legendary Cable Beach area.
On March 31, the Bahamas Gaming Board held a public hearing into the suitability of Sky Warrior Bahamas Ltd to be issued a gaming license and associated certificates of suitability. On April 4, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe announced that the board had granted the license following a comprehensive investigation.
Sky Warrior Bahamas, a subsidiary of Baha Mar owner Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, is led by Alex Pariente and John Zaremba, two longtime gaming industry executives with experience in both Las Vegas and Caribbean casinos.
According to a report in the Bahamas Tribune, Graeme Davis, president of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, again addressed critics among the opposition party to Prime Minister Perry Christie’s government who claimed the soft opening was a “sham,” pointing to the fact that no marketing has been done. Davis repeated his comments that Baha Mar will open with invited, non-paying guests as a process to “open thoughtfully” and thus “ensure the experience is exceptional on day one.”
The casino license comes a few weeks after a unit of Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Limited was issued an occupancy permit for the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, the first of the six hotels, in a ceremony that officially handed over ownership of the resort from government control to Chow Tai Fook subsidiary CTF BM Holdings.
“As required by the (Gaming) Act, a comprehensive probity investigation was conducted into the application,” said Bahamas Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe in a statement following issuance of the license to operate the 100,000-square-foot casino. “Through this investigation, which was based on all the eligibility criteria for licensing contained in the act, the applicant and all persons, whether natural or juristic, holding a direct or indirect financial interest of 5 percent or more in it were thoroughly examined against these criteria…
“Having thoroughly reviewed these recommendations, as well as the investigation report and all other documentation pertaining to the application, I have reached the conclusion that the application, the applicant and its material stakeholders have all met the qualification requirements for licensing set forth in the act, and therefore have resolved to grant a gaming license (subject to appropriate conditions) to Sky Warrior Bahamas Limited and certificates of suitability to its material shareholders.”
He added, “The Gaming Board and its staff will continue to work with the applicant to ensure that the prevailing pre-opening requirements leading up to the soft opening of the Baha Mar Casino on April 21, 2017, are duly met.”
The opening comes three-and-a-half years after the grand opening date planned by Baha Mar founder and original CEO Sarkis Izmirlian. After disputes with the state-owned Chinese contractor—used as a condition of the main financing for the $4.2 billion project—Izmirlian stopped construction in spring of 2015. The project sat idle as the Bahamian government, counting on the resort to revive its tourism industry, seized and resold the property through a government liquidator. Chow Tai Fook bought the project in March, over Izmirlian’s objections.
