Jamaica: Tourism Minister said casino gaming laws coming soon

A new Casino Gaming Bill was table in November and is now before a Special Select Committee of Parliament. Bartlett told RJR's Financial Report that the Committee has been meeting and the Bill could be back in the House of Representatives by the end of this month.

"The Committee met this week in Parliament and received various submissions from various individual and groups. It is going to meet again on Thursday and is schedule to close its deliberations on January 26 so that the House can debate it," he said.

The Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett added that the Government hopes to be at the stage of being able to grant casino licenses by year end. In the meantime, he sought to clarify reports carried on the US based travel website travelagentcentral.com that Jamaicans will be barred from any casino that may be opened in the country.

The website reports that Bartlett told US journalists that although the Government does not want to exclude its own people from a right it will offer to tourists, Jamaica is also looking into ways of "making it less attractive for Jamaicans to come."

The minister has sought to explain the comment. "The casinos are going to be imbedded in these large developments which essentially are tourism driven and this by itself would be a disincentive to the average Jamaican walking in to participate because in the normal run of things, they don't go to hotels to dine and to generally socialize. These will not be a little gaming halls but facilities of which casinos are more than 20% of the experience provided by the hotels," Bartlett said.

Three developers, including Harmony Cove and Celebration Jamaica, are interested in building casinos, Bartlett added. He said one casino is planned for Montego Bay in St. James with another for Ocho Rios in St. Ann and the other on the southern side of the country.