Jamaica’s first regulated casino should be open by the beginning of 2020, according to Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett. Speaking at a seminar on the Hospitality Industry last week, he noted that the island has long resisted making casino gaming a draw from tourism.
The Caribbean island nation is not without gaming, but up until now they have been somewhat unregulated slot halls.
“We have shied away from gaming as a structured path of the tourism experience for a long time for a number of reasons, one of which has been the experiences that we have looked at in other places and we have seen some of the attendant negatives and we question very much whether or not we would be able ourselves to manage and be able to deal with the negative impact of it,” said Bartlett, who was a speaker at “Hospitality Industry and Casino Operator’s Guide to Managing U.S. Liability Issues from the Caribbean,” held at Sandals Montego Bay.
The minister said casino gaming will not be the lure that draws tourists. “The fact is that casino for Jamaica is not a requirement for our growth but within the context of the integrated development model, casino gaming is a driver for exponential growth so we do not see Jamaica ever becoming a casino destination but rather a destination in which casino gaming is available,“ he said.
The Casino Commission has authorized two large casino developments. Celebration Jamaica casino is planned to be sandwiched between the Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort and the Rose Hall Resort & Country Club in Rose Hall, Montego Bay. The casino would be about 100,000 square feet with slot machines, table games and a sports book.
The second project is the $1 billion Harmony Cover that would be built on 2,000 acres between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay.
Bartlett said the casino is expected to provide a 2 percent growth to GDP. The island plans to issue three casino licenses total. With each license comes the obligation by the developer to build a minimum of 1,000 rooms and invest $1 billion.
Non-casino amenities are a required part of the overall package, said the minister.
“The casino must come with shopping, entertainment, with music and with maritime experiences and a whole range of other experiences because we wanted to make sure that the balance remained, so that there wouldn’t be stand-alone casino arrangement all over Jamaica.”
Without any gaming the island attracted 4.3 million tourists last year, the tourist minister noted. “Casinos should represent no more than 20 per cent of the value of the experience that is offered as the integrated development arrangement,” he said.
Some, like U.S. lawyer Bruce Liebman of the Florida law firm Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, argues that Jamaica has a chance to offer something Florida doesn’t have, and that which will attract visitors from the Sunshine State. He wants to see full-fledged casinos on the island. Liebman’s law firm co-hosted the seminar with the Montego Bay attorneys Clayton Morgan & Company.
He spoke at the same seminar as the tourism minister, but offered a different perspective. He commented, “Jamaica has slot parlors but I didn’t see a lot of tourists there. The key is to get tourists to bigger gaming operations that they are used to seeing in destination resorts.”
He added, “There are no table games in Jamaica yet. Jamaica has an unbelievable opportunity to get ahead of the state of Florida. If you develop casinos in an integrated format with entertainment, condominiums, shopping, golf courses, and get it on an ocean with your beautiful sand and your beautiful beaches, you will be ahead of the state of Florida, and I believe that’s a beautiful opportunity.”
