THE recently opened Sleep-In Hotel is set to open its casino facility this November, according to its proprietor, Clifton Bacchus. Bacchus told the Guyana Chronicle he is optimistic that his establishment will receive the required licence to facilitate his operation in the coming months. Currently, the hotelier is not in possession of a casino licence, but said that he has applied for the remaining certificate which is scheduled for Region Four.
“Yes. It [casino] will be open in November,” Bacchus told the Guyana Chronicle. When asked about a positive response from the country’s Gaming Board, which is responsible for issuing such licences, Bacchus said that he had not received a response but noted, “I applied and I don’t see any difficulty [with acquiring the licence].”
When contacted, Chairman of the Gaming Authority Board, Roysdale Forde, provided no information on the status of the third and final licence authorised for the region. Some controversy exists over the issuance of the final casino licence since one businessman, Omprakash ‘Buddy’ Shivraj of Buddy’s Hotel, said a Memorandum of Agreement which placed him in line for the last licence under the previous government was cancelled by them, just before they lost the general elections which put them out of office last May. Shivraj became concerned that after spending millions on his unfinished hotel at his Sheriff Street location, the project has been stalled, given the seemingly low prospects of him now being able to operate a casino without a licence, one of the key features of his hotel.
Bacchus on the other hand has been identified as a “good friend” of the previous People’s Progressive Party and a staunch party supporter. Observers claim this as the reason for the licence being designated for Sleep-In, a facility frequented by the upper echelons of the PPP, in particular. The state-built Marriott Hotel, which has seen its share of corruption, and lacking transparency accusations, along with the Princess Ramada Hotel on the East Bank of Demerara, are holders of the other two licences. Bacchus is hopeful that his Church Street hotel and casino facilities will employ some 300 persons.