The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement (FNM) Free Town candidate Dionisio D’Aguilar yesterday hit out at the “sham” of last week’s Gaming Board mandated public hearing over Baha Mar’s casino licence application, claiming that the whole thing was “predetermined” given the mega resort’s importance to the country.

Mr D’Aguilar, while a guest on the Island Luck TV show “The Real Deal” with host Ortland Bodie Jr, slammed the “backwards” process that led to Baha Mar receiving a casino licence, suggesting that given Baha Mar’s reported importing of casino equipment before the hearing and subsequent approval begs the question: “Did you for one minute think that they weren’t going to get it?”

On Friday, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) subsidiary Sky Warrior Bahamas Ltd, trading as Baha Mar, presented its case to Gaming Board officials as to why it should be granted a gaming licence to operate the project’s 100,000 square foot casino, the largest in the Caribbean.

The presentation, made by CTFE (Bahamas) President Graeme Davis, came during a public hearing at the British Colonial Hilton before Gaming Board Secretary Verdant Scott, where public concerns and inquiries were levelled at Mr Davis.

Three days later, Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe confirmed that Baha Mar had received government approvals for its gaming licence, clearing the way for its casino operations in time for its soft launch in three weeks.

Mr Wilchcombe said the approvals for a gaming licence and associated certificates of suitability were granted after a comprehensive probity investigation, and on the recommendation of the Gaming Board.

He noted that there were no written comments or objections from the public within the designated 21-day period after the application was advertised, in compliance with requirements of the Gaming Act 2014.

However, weeks before it had obtained its casino licence, the resort’s casino floor was reportedly stocked with millions of dollars worth of casino equipment, such as gambling tables and slot machines. In addition, Baha Mar had reportedly already begun training casino staff.

“Did you for one minute think that they weren’t going to get it?” Mr D’Aguilar said when prodded on the matter yesterday by Mr Bodie. “They did that so backward - I won’t say what the word is that you’ve got to put in backward. They had the machines in … and then they say ‘oh well, let’s apply for the licence’. So do you really think they weren’t going to get it?”

Last week, on the sidelines of the public hearing, Mr Davis expressed confidence that Sky Warrior would receive a casino operator licence from the Gaming Board, claiming that it has “provided and will provide any documentation or any request from the Gaming Board to ensure that the Gaming Board is comfortable with us being the operator of the Baha Mar casino”.

That same week, Mr Davis also pushed back at “baseless” and “untrue” allegations contained in an open letter to the Gaming Board, which accused the resort’s buyer of being allegedly associated with “international crime” organisations through its link to a Macau gaming group.

Mr Davis also hit back at FNM claims that the soft opening was a “sham,” pledging that it will not repeat the mistakes of previous developer, Sarkis Izmirlian.