The Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission announced the Hamilton Princess Casino has submitted an application to become the island’s first licensed, fully integrated resort casino. BCGC Chairman Alan Dunch said, “The BCGC is pleased to announce this landmark event in working to introduce the casino product into a Bermuda integrated resort. The fully funded application, submitted in answer to the commission’s Request for Proposal process, was received before the close of the current filing period, July 21, 2017. The application provides the detailed plans to develop a casino within the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, located on Pitts Bay Road in Hamilton, Bermuda.”
Hamilton Princess will present its proposal to the BCGC in a public meeting on September 22. Dunch said, “We feel that this is an important step towards realizing the public policy goals of the Casino Act, by increasing employment and investment in Bermuda, as well as enhancing the tourism product.”
Last year the Hamilton Princess became one of the first resort properties to be named a “designated site,” allowing it to apply for a casino license. The Fairmont Southampton and the Morgan’s Point Hotel also applied for designated site status.
The BCGC was established in 2015 under the Casino Gaming Act 2014. As the gambling regulatory body for the Bermuda, the BCGC oversees supervising all casino operators, vendors, managers and employees. The commission also manages responsible gambling efforts, self-exclusions and other related issues.
The Act allows the BCGC to approve three provisional casino licenses, in addition to the provisional license granted to the developer of the St. Regis hotel project in St. George’s. The application process requires a $600,000 application fee , and a $1.4 million provisional license issue fee. Applicants reaching the final stage will be required to pay an additional $1 million casino license issue fee.
Meanwhile, the BCGC’s Problem and Responsible Gaming Director Roger Trott, Commissioner Judith Hall Bean and four other officials recently attended the 31st National Conference on Problem Gambling, July 19-22 in Portland, Oregon. The theme was “Listening, Learning, Leading.”
Trott commented, “It was an amazing experience, one that has equipped us with knowledge and tools to better protect Bermuda from the risks associated with problem gambling. People were more than willing to share their knowledge and expertise and one consistent comment we received from those we met was how wonderful it is for Bermuda to be safeguarding itself on the front end before the first casinos are even introduced. Normally this type of attention is given on the back end, as a reactive measure, once the first signs of trouble appear, but the treatment providers we spoke to believe our method is ideal.”
Trott said the conference provided the tools to establish a framework for Bermuda’s problem and responsible gaming programs. The BCGC currently is reviewing cutting edge casino software that can log players out of games once they reach their set limit, and other geo-location software that presents nonintrusive responsible gaming ads.
