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CAT ISLAND GAMBLING NEWS: MAY 2010

(Source: The Nassau Guardian Business Article by Jasmin Bonimy, Guardian Staff Reporter)

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham has announced that Cat Island will become the home of only one casino, despite two international developers each proposing to build their own legal gambling den on the southern island.

Ingraham, who is also Minister of Finance, made the revelation during a town meeting recently on the largely undeveloped island. Hundreds of residents attended that meeting, hoping to learn more about a proposed development that is expected to be built on 1,906 acres across the southern tip and adjacent to Fine Bay.

The project’s investment company ñ Cat Island Partners Limited ñ say its boutique casino will take up approximately 5,000 square feet of their development.

Still, this is not the first casino announced for the island.

Back in January 2006 ñ under the Christie Administration ñ the U.S.-based Crystal Mount Limited announced that its $1.2 billion, mixed-use project would include a golf beach resort with a Monte Carlo-styled casino.

The presence of two gaming houses on the island would likely challenge revenues for both properties considering the challenges now facing Exuma’s sole casino, attached to the Four Seasons resort.

Addressing the Cat Island crowd, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t particularly like casinos as a matter of personal choice. But the developers (Cat Island Partners) convinced us that the project requires a small casino and it was essential for their development.”

The PM added that he had discussions with the group which touched on the subject of the Crystal Mount project.

“And I told them, ‘yes there had been talks about another casino in Cat Island, but the first rat that gets in the hole will have his tail covered’,” he said last week. “On my watch there will be only one casino in Cat Island and not two.

“So if they start as they say, they will have the casino and anybody else will get none while I’m here.”

His comments come amid concerns by locals that the cozy island would be overrun with casinos and the anti-social ills associated with gambling.

But David Southworth, one of the lead members of the development team, attempted to allay those concerns, arguing that his company has no intention of building a “casino resort” per say. He added that the decision to add a casino to initial plans was a strategic one designed to make the resort more appealing.

“It is not a casino that will attract high rollers,” said Southworth. “We will not be flying in high rollers. “We do not want to make this a gambling destination … It (our casino) will be small, but the word casino is still in the plan.”

Meanwhile, his investment team has pegged the first phase of the development at $200 million. It will center on two miles of beachfront property and a 223 single-lot and multi-family residential community, a 100-unit condominium hotel, a PGA Golf Club and Village, as well as a low-rise 200-room J.W. Marriot Hotel.

Government officials said the development would soon be approved and construction could begin in “weeks.”

The estimated completion date for the project is sometime within the next three years.

At full build-out, the resort is expected to offer a much-needed boost to Cat Island’s slumbering economy and 937 full-time jobs.

More than 200 temporary construction jobs will also be created, said developers.