St Pierre Park Hotel is casino licence winner

ST PIERRE Park has hit the jackpot as winner of the island's casino bid. The Tourist Board confirms today that the selection process to find a preferred licence applicant is now complete, with St Pierre Park Hotel, part of CI Traders Ltd, being the successful candidate. The board and the hotel are delighted that a policy letter for the creation of a first-class hotel resort, featuring the Channel Islands' first licensed casino, is due to go before the States later this month. If approved, it will have to be built and completed within three years. But the board's recommendation for the concession is subject to substantial investment proposed for the overall redevelopment of the hotel on a phased basis, which is estimated to cost £25m. It would have preferred one phase of proposals, but given the cost and complexity of the project, recognised the need for three. One phase would have meant the closure of the hotel for nine months. 'Given the financial and planning constraints under which the tourism industry operates within the island, the outcome represents a unique opportunity to develop a tourism and leisure facility that will be of benefit not just to tourism, but also to the social life of the community,' said the board. The Advisory and Finance Committee backs the board's recommendations that the tender represents a substantial hotel investment that will potentially be of significant economic benefit to the island. 'From a purely States financial point of view, the proposal will see the recovery of the not unsubstantial costs already incurred in carrying out the tender exercise and the ongoing costs of regulation,' it said. A and F recognises that some States members might continue to have reservations about the appropriateness of a casino but supports the proposals because of the positive impact it believes they will have on the tourism industry. There will be no additional future costs to the States. The business plan submitted makes it clear that there is an allowance to recover the costs of the hotel casino concession application process (£400,000) and the annual administration costs of the Guernsey Gambling Control Commission (estimated at £350,000 per annum). Although the board is disappointed that only one application for the concession was received, following a full and detailed assessment, it believes the quality of the submission is excellent. In 2002, a total of 19 interested parties had requested application documents and five organisations had taken up the offer of a site visit to the island. But eventually this was whittled down to one interested party. A casino with a high cash turnover can be open to abuse through cheating, theft and other illegal activities, so a well regulated and supervised one needs the appropriate equipment and administrative systems and procedures in place. It is intended that a Compliance Committee under the chairmanship of a former chief inspector of the UK Gaming Board be provided to oversee this area, along with the commission. There will be a need to find staff with suitable gaming experience from outside the island and provide training for qualified staff and to train locals up for the casino industry. Legislation requires production of a detailed operations policy and provisions for the concession to be suspended or revoked if it is not adhered to. A code of conduct for staff will have to be drawn up to deal with 'problem' and 'compulsive' gambling amongst the local population. The board was impressed by the scope, quality and levels of research and commitment of the bid, which represented the largest-ever private investment in the Bailiwick's hospitality industry and visitor economy. The preferred applicant was the only one prepared to take on the financial responsibility of building the leisure/business resort (incorporating the casino), as well as the costs of operation and regulation. * St Pierre Park was the only casino bidder after rivals pulled out and the cost is likely to be £13m.