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Jamaica will not be a Casino Destination

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica Jamaica’s first regulated casino should be up and running by the start of 2020 but Jamaica will not be a casino destination.

This was disclosed Friday (December 7) by Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett as he wrapped up remarks at a seminar on Hospitality Industry and Casino Operator’s Guide to Managing U.S. Liability Issues from the Caribbean, at Sandals Montego Bay.

While not giving details on the first casino, Mr. Bartlett spoke of the contribution casino gaming is expected to make to the Jamaican economy as an addition to the tourism product, providing 2 percent to GDP growth.

Jamaica will not be a Casino Destination says Minister of Tourism Hon Edmund Bartlett
Minister of Tourism Hon Edmund Bartlett as he opens a seminar on Hospitality Industry and Casino Operator’s Guide to Managing U.S. Liability Issues from the Caribbean.

“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 Minister Bartlett.

Additionally, he said there has been very strong religious consideration, but as a government, a concerted decision was taken “that we wanted to take a deeper dive in this area because it does provide a lucrative element of the tourism product and that it had the potential to drive growth to a level that would put Jamaica where it ought to in terms of the level required to generate additional GDP growth.”

The Tourism Minister said it was felt that 3 million stopover visitors and earning of US$3 billion would be a key point spurred on by casino gaming but those figures have already been surpassed with 4.3 million visitors last year without the lure of a casino but because of extraordinary effort.

“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,“ said Minister Bartlett.

Having considered that three casino gaming licenses would be granted, Mr. Bartlett said “Casinos should represent no more than 20 percent of the value of the experience that is offered as the integrated development arrangement.” Construction of a minimum of 1,000 rooms and US1 billion in investment have been laid down as the minimum that goes with a casino license.

Elaborating on the arrangement, he said “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.”

Jamaica will not be a Casino Destination  says Minister of Tourism Hon Edmund Bartlett
Minister of Tourism Hon Edmund Bartlett (right) enjoys a relaxing moment in conversation with US attorneys, Liebman (left) and Michel Morgan of the law firm, Kaufman Dolovich Voluck at a seminar on Hospitality Industry and Casino Operator’s Guide to Managing U.S. Liability Issues from the Caribbean

Minister Bartlett welcomed the seminar hosted by US law firm, Kaufman Dolovic Voluck in association with Montego Bay attorneys Clayton Morgan & Company, noting that it was a good moment to examine the implication and legal ramifications. He was therefore interested in the outcome of the seminar “as we look now not only on what the legal implications are and particularly as a country that is closest to the more celebrated casino areas in the western world, including Las Vegas.”

 

South Florida Caribbean News

The SFLCN.com Team provides news and information for the Caribbean-American community in South Florida and beyond.

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