Delays bedeviled the project by Century Casinos to develop the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club in Bermuda. So much so that the U.S. company announced January 16 that it was abandoning the project after eight years, according to the Royal Gazette.
Century Casinos CEO and President Peter Hoetzinger told the Gazette that the company could not foresee the project being completed in a timely manner as called for by the legislation that authorized the resort.
He seemed to blame the project delay on the Bermuda Gaming Commission (BGC) and suggested that it provide a “viable path forward,” so that his company, or some other company, could resume looking for a new operator.
He told the Gazette, “We joined the Hamilton Princess casino project eight years ago. In 2017, the project received a provisional casino license.” He added, “Since then—for the last five years—we have tried to get this project up and running, but with the current legislative framework we do not assume this project can be realized in a reasonable time frame or at all. We have therefore decided not to continue our attempts to implement casino operations in Hamilton any further and to leave the casino project.”
The Hamilton Princess & Beach Club issued a comment: “We are disappointed that our designated casino partner no longer wishes to pursue the project.”
The company added, “While we continue to believe that gaming represents an attractive amenity for Bermuda’s visitors, we have paused our search for a new operator while we await a clearer road map from the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission on a viable path forward to seeing a casino open its doors.”
The original plans called for a casino with 200 slots , 14 gaming tables and one automated roulette table.
The government of Bermuda has listed the growth of the gaming industry as one of its key areas of economic stimulation.
According to additional reporting from the Gazette, the BGC’s lack of autonomy and authority has long been a major factor in the delays experienced by potential operators such as Century and Hotelco Bermuda Holding, who received approval from the BGC for its St. Regis Bermuda Resort in October and has been sitting idly by ever since.
The BGC even elected a new CEO in December, Charmaine Smith, who told the Gazette at the time that “Stakeholder-regulator engagement is vital for the successful creation of a culture of compliance in Bermuda’s gaming industry. I look forward to continued engagement with all the relevant stakeholders in this sector.”
The Gazette quoted an anonymous source close to the situation who said that the island’s banks are unwilling to work with casinos due to an inability to secure partnerships with foreign banks.
According to the unnamed source, “The U.S. banks want gaming to be independent, and the BGC looks anything but. A major disincentive is that Bermuda gaming regulation just does not look independent.”
The regulations, the source said, are geared towards large-scale properties “like California or Nevada,” and do not fit the “teeny-tiny ones” that actually apply for licenses on the island.
Government officials have denied having undue influence in the island’s gaming affairs, meaning that the situation has devolved to the point where everybody is left with pointed fingers and empty pockets.
A spokeswoman for the government gave the following statement to the Gazette:
“The gaming commission operates independently, administering the provisions of the relevant legislation and those persons appointed to the commission, by law, are required to have specified expertise and experience in various fields. The commission advises the minister responsible for gaming, and in some cases, the minister must act in accordance with that advice.”
The statement went on to conclude that ““Any suggestion of influence over the commission is patently false.”
