Susanne Varnes President of Treasure Bay Saint Lucia told the STAR Tuesday that the company had started looking at Saint Lucia to set up shop since 2004.
“Originally we bought some property in Pigeon Island, and started clearing the land,” she revealed. “We had some designs ready to implement, then the economy crashed. At the time we were looking at a model similar to what we did in St Croix, except that back then the legislation would not allow locals to participate. But after the economy crashed we thought it was not the right time to come here. But the laws were amended and then Mr Cheriki told us of the Bay Walk Mall. We decided the timing and concept was right again and so here we are.”
Scott Cowan, General manager of Treasure Bay casino told us the company was quite excited to be here and was looking forward to working with the many saint Lucians already employed.
“Originally we were issued about fifty work permits for expats mainly in the managerial area and technical expertise. However, during our recruitment program, we had four slot technicians and they were all going to be expats. So we decided to do some interviews to get a feel of the technical expertise here and the end result, of those four technicians we now have one from the Philippines and three from Saint Lucia,” Cowan informed.
This has reduced their expat gaming staff which will now compliment a total of 150 Saint Lucians who will be working with casino.
“The training has all gone well and the people involved really enjoyed it. They were keen on learning. When we started it seems lots of people play cards here at home and for fun, so shuffling cards was something that intrigued them for example,” Cowan added. “A total of nine weeks was spent on training, leading up to the big opening day.”
“Treasure Bay casino as we said will be open to the general public, however persons wishing to participate in the casino, must register and earn membership. Registration for membership started yesterday Friday, December 3 and will continue until next week on the ground floor of the Bay walk mall. You have to be a member if you are from Saint Lucia and membership is free,” Cowan says.
To register persons must be over 18 years of age and provide a piece of identification as well as respond to some simple “Q” and “A” the company says. Upon opening the Treasure Bay casino will feature Black Jack, Roulette, Craps, 259 slot machines, Carnival games, sit down poker and a poker room. It will employ the latest technology and players can play on a rating system where they earn points for drinks at the bar.
“We really want to promote responsible gambling which goes hand in hand with responsible drinking which is why we are joining the growing trend of not having open bars,” Cowan said adding that the casino was here to compliment nightlife in the Rodney bay area.
“The way we look at it, if we can just swell the pie a little then everybody is going to get something out of it. We are not looking to grab everything,” he stated. Added to that Cowan says coming to Saint Lucia is an incredible opportunity to add something who are Saint Lucians,” Cowan stressed.
Opening hours of Treasure Bay Casino will be Sundays to Thursdays 10am to 2am for slot machines and tables from 4pm to 2 am. Fridays and Saturdays: slots will be open from 10 am to 4pm and tables from 4pm to 4am. Times are flexible upon request for groups.
Treasure Bay first entered the gaming and casino business in 1994 with its first property in Biloxi Mississippi. From there the company took on a property in Saint Croix affiliated to the Divi Resort Company, managed casinos in Aruba and Bonaire and own and operate another in Grand Bahama Island.
