With the return of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba many in the gaming industry wonder if the legendary casinos of Havana will eventually reopen.
Due to the 50 year economic boycott much of Cuba has frozen like an insect captured in amber (except that everything is crumbling), with the stately gaming palaces still standing much as they did when Castro and his revolutionaries marched into the city on January 1, 1959.
Before that, during and after the era of Prohibition in the U.S. Havana’s casinos acquired the patina of legend, and were largely assumed to be under the control of American gangsters, something that was “celebrated” in the film The Godfather. In a sense, Havana was Las Vegas long before Las Vegas was Las Vegas.
The only thing standing in the way of American and other gaming companies standing in line to move onto the island is politics. According to I. Nelson Rose, an expert on gaming law interviewed by the Fox Business Network. “It should happen right now but it won’t because of the politics,” he said. “They could do it right now but ideology and politics are standing in the way.”
Other factors block a return of the old style casinos, perhaps the largest being that gambling is illegal and there is no indication that the Castro government is interested in changing that.
In addition, these building have been standing around for half a century and would require many millions of dollars to restore, such that it might be cheaper to simply start over. Besides rebuilding the casinos themselves it would probably also be necessary to upgrade the crumbling roads and maybe build a new airport.
Casino developers would also need guarantees that they wouldn’t be subject to nationalization and that they could safely send their profits home. Hard to get from one of the last remaining old-fashioned communist regimes still functioning.
The three largest casino operators in the U.S., Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, did not comment when asked if they had an interest in expanding to Cuba.
