Last week, the Executive Chairman of the Grand Bahama Gaming Board, Dr. Daniel Johnson, marked a century of gambling in the country.
Unfortunately, he said, Grand Bahama has three unused gaming licenses available, and so far no takers. They have been unclaimed for two decades. Dr. Johnson would like to change that. He is urging businesses in the country to consider going into the casino business.
The last casino to operate on Grand Bahamas closed around 2016. For a while, the Isle of Capri Casinos ran the casino in the Grand Lucayan resort, but failed to make money. Other casinos have come and gone over the years.
Grand Bahamas will have to compete with Nassau, which boasts two of the world’s most notable casinos, The Atlantis on Paradise Island and Baha Mar, a world class casino owned by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which itself has a checkered history.
On Grand Bahama, the governor earlier this year accepted a deal to purchase the Grand Lucayan Resort by Electra America Hospitality Group (EAHG) to buy the resort for $100 million. Plans include a golf course and a casino, but work has been slow to start.
The sale, I. Chester Cooper, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments & Aviation, “was only the beginning of the revival that we are witnessing in Grand Bahama Island.”
Chairman Johnson declared, “The mandate of this new board is very clear. We are in a rebrand, renew, rebuild, phase. This is now the time go for it.” Johnson continued, “You all have three gaming licenses for hotel and casino on Grand Bahama. We (the Gaming Board) haven’t gotten a penny from those hotel and casino licenses in almost 20 years. That’s what I’m coming for.”
Johnson wants to see something like an all-inclusive resort, or even better, three of them. He would like to issue a license by the end of this year and do the same next. Locally owned boutique hotels would be ideal.
He concluded, “I come here to say today, we want this business back and we are coming to get it. I am issuing that license this year.”
