Supplier News
Puerto Rico – San Juan Hotel & Casino closes in Puerto Rico
By Phil - 16 January 2017
Another casino has been forced to close in Puerto Rico due to the country’s worsening economic crisis.
The casino in the Hotel San Juan will not open on February 5 as had previously been planned once remodelling work on the hotel is complete. The decision means that 100 workers will lose their jobs.
This is the seventh casino to close in the last two years according to television network Telemundo. The San Juan Hotel & Casino, in Carolina’s Isla Verde sector, had been temporarily closed last year as extensive refurbishment work was carried out on the premises at an estimated cost of around US$35m to US$40m but the casino will now not reopen it doors to the public. According to reports in local media the hotel’s casino, was remodelled in late 2014.
But in a statement co proprietor Andro Nodarse León said: “As the remodelling of El San Juan reaches its final stage, we have faced the difficult decision not to reopen the casino,” he said. “Due to the economic challenges and the current tourism situation in Puerto Rico, (the hotel) has decided not to reopen its casino this Sunday, February 5, 2017, when the hotel reopens its doors. Over the past few months, El San Juan has undergone one of the most extensive renovations since the property opened in 1958, with the aim of honouring the elegance and opulence of this iconic property while renewing its magical energy and it heading for a new era of service,” he said.
The casino industry is a major contributor to the Tourism Board as well as the only State University on the island. Resources made from the casino industry have diminished significantly over recent years. The country has been going through a decade-long economic crisis and the island is no longer able to serve fully its public debt of about US$71.5bn. The new governor Ricardo Rosselló, who was sworn into office earlier this month, warned that the government will not have the funds to pay public employee wages in February.
In addition the industry has been hit by the growth of illegal gaming and there could be as many as 45,000 illegal slot machines as attachments to small businesses. Meanwhile the government has been looking at ways to legalise VLT’s as VLT’s would bring in additional US$100m per year to government coffers. However this has been met with fierce resistance by local gaming operators, who argue that allowing video lotteries on the island would put 5,000 jobs at risk.
