Isle of Capri plans to open its casino at Our Lucaya within three to four months after The Bahamas government grants a gaming license to the Mississippi based company, according to Isle of Capri's Executive Vice President Allan Solomon.
Isle of Capri executives on Thursday took part in a public hearing in Freeport conducted by the Gaming Board. The less than 10-minute hearing adjourned after Gaming Board Chairman Kenyatta Gibson ruled that since their were no objections to Isle Of Capri's license application, the company would not need to make a hearing presentation.
The Gaming Board will now move to recommend government approval for Isle of Capri's gaming license, a step company executives say will pave the way for work to begin on opening Isle of Capri's $10 million casino at the Our Lucaya Resort.
Isle of Capri's casino on Grand Bahama will be the company's first business venture outside the United States.
"We are fully familiar with the gaming laws here in The Bahamas and we have done our own extensive research in order to determine what we can do here," Mr. Solomon told the Bahama Journal Thursday. "We have 14 casinos in the United States. Yes, this is a new venture for us, but we know, or rather we think we know how to plan, in order to make this casino successful."
With casinos in The Bahamas relying solely on tourist travel for business, the Bahama Journal questioned Mr. Solomon on how Isle of Capri hopes to attract customers to Grand Bahama.
"Well this will be our first strictly tourist environment," Mr. Solomon said. "What we have is a card that's called the Isle card where people earn credit and earn miles. People are going to be able to use their credits in the United States to come to Grand Bahama to stay and to gamble. We have over 4.5 million people in our program."
With regard to the important element of marketing, Mr. Solomon said that thus far, the company is still in negotiations with air and cruise lines regarding potential travel packages to Grand Bahama. He said that Isle of Capri may consider the possibility of chartering jet service to the island to fly in its customers.
John Markoulis, president of Hutchison Lucaya Ltd, told the Journal that the managers of Our Lucaya have agreed to partner with Isle of Capri in joint marketing efforts. Special arrangements have also been made between Isle of Capri and Our Lucaya regarding room, meal and golf course privileges for the gaming company's customers, according to Mr. Solomon.
Isle of Capri's investment is pegged primarily for the purchase of equipment, which according to Mr. Solomon, has already been ordered. The company also plans to hire some 300 people for its new project. According to the company executive, not all of those positions will go to Bahamians.
"We do extensive training at our properties," Mr. Solomon told the Bahama Journal Thursday. "We will bring some people who know Isle style, but over 90 percent of the employees will come from The Bahamas."
According to Mr. Solomon, plans will be in the works to encourage upward mobility for Bahamians at Isle of Capri Freeport.
"Well, yes we certainly hope that [Bahamians] would fill some of our executive positions, that's what we would like to do. The more local people we can get involved, the better it will be for us and the community," he said.
The company executive said that Isle of Capri prides itself on good employee and management relations. He stressed that the gaming company places emphasis on its employees being well trained and "feeling good" about themselves and the business. Though the company executive expressed hope that Isle of Capri officials would become greatly familiar with Bahamian culture, he admitted that the company has no experience with an important aspect of labour relations in The Bahamas.
"We do not have unions at any of our casinos in the United States so any unions here would be our first experience with them," Mr. Solomon said. "I'm not sure that we have addressed the issue of unions totally in our negotiations, but our employee relationships are good anyway so if [the employees] decide that they want a union, I'm sure that we will be in a position to work with them."
He expressed overall optimism that the company's investment projections coming into the Freeport project are good. Mr. Solomon also noted that the company investment is a long-term one.
"We have an indefinite time frame here," he said. "When we come here, our goal is to come here and stay."
By Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
