It took a little prodding in the press for the Department of Finance to release $100,000 to the Casino Control Commission, but the body now has the funding to conduct a background check on a prospective hotel-casino investor.
In a Casino Commission meeting on Dec. 1, chairwoman Eileen Petersen went public with a warning that if the Division of Gaming Enforcement didn’t receive an infusion of money into an empty impress fund used to conduct background checks, the process would be slowed indefinitely. At the time, Petersen said she knew of no reason why the funds hadn't been released because part of the application fee goes into the impress fund for investigations.
But on Monday, Petersen said Finance had released the money and the investigation of a possible new St. Croix casino investor is under way.
"Golden Gaming is the one we’re focusing on now," she said. "I was almost panicking. Not only me, but the investor. But we were able to appease his concerns."
Golden Gaming LLC applied for a Tier II hotel-casino license last month. If approved, the facility would be built on the east end of St. Croix. Licensing fees for a Tier II hotel, which must have 300 to 1,400 rooms and a 10,000-square-foot casino, are $200,000 for the first two years. A second two-year license costs $175,000.
Intensive background checks on a casino applicant are a normal part of the approval process, which also includes a verification of the project's financial viability.
St. Croix’s first casino, the Divi Carina Bay Resort, opened in March 2000 and now employs approximately 400 people, 276 of whom were either born in the territory or have lived here for at least five years.
A second casino application, by a Colorado-based company, was rejected by the commission after the company proposed that it be allowed to add the mandated amount of rooms over an extended time.
The third application was filed by Mario de Chabert, a St. Croix businessman and attorney. His project, an eight-story, 193-room casino-hotel on his family's property near Sunny Isle Shopping Center, is expected to break ground early next year.
Golden Gaming would be the fourth license filed with the CCC since 1996.
