“We believe that Croc's Casino Resort is going to be an international destination”

Croc's Casino Resort will be a 26,000 sqm complex that will have 152 regular rooms and 44 condominiums. It will count with a 929 sqm casino, two restaurants, three bars, a discoteque, a spa, a veterinary clinic, a kids club and 60 metres of beach. Besides, it will have a 464 sqm meeting and convention center with capacity for 400 people. The project will be located in a three-hectare land and will generate 300 direct employments. The opening date was planned for December 2014 and the construction will be in charge of the company Edica.

Why have you chosen Costa Rica to build a casino there?
I came to Costa Rica in the early 2,000 because there was too much to do here. Costa Rica is very beautiful, with the waterfalls and natural parks. I like nature myself and I am very active, and I had the opportunity to go surfing and fishing, so I wanted to come back. The people here also are very warm and I found different people who were extremely talented at work and made you feel safe.

Today it will be held the ground breaking ceremony of the Croc's Casino Resort. What does this ceremony consist of?
We will be meeting a lot of local politicians and representatives. We want the community to feel part of this project. So we are going to have a pool party after that. We’ve actually built a third of our pool in advance, so that we can show out the property in this process, and we’re going to talk a little bit about our project  and show out the sight, show out our view to the ocean and just share a little of our camaraderie with the local community.

And what will the gaming offer of the new casino consist of?
We will have many different kinds of table games, slot machines, very attractive tournaments and different things to encourage the participants to have a more active experience; some people like to feel a competitive process in the way they have entertainment with gaming activities.  We are just trying to create  the right environment for people to be together and have a social time in a slot machine or a table game.

And what type of players do you aim to target?
We feel that we will have international and local public. We feel that our customers are right here in Costa Rica. We want to make sure that we will encourage them to come here, as well as with the international public. We will offer a gaming experience that a lot of people would have in Las Vegas or Macau, so they can receive the type of value that we are offering, so we believe that we will have a South America, Central America, United States customer-base. We believe that we are going to be an international destination.

Do you already operate other casinos in Costa Rica or Latin America in general?
This is my first experience with casinos.  My cousin, Rory (Hascall) who is the President of the casino, has 25-year experience in Vegas, in Medellin. We are now focused 100% on this project. December 2014 is our goal to open the casino.

What are your expectations for the opening, in 2014?
We feel we have a unique product to offer and we are very anxious to go and show the community something different.