Casinos in Suriname scrambling to meet deadline

by Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent

Friday, February 25, 2005

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: With only a couple of days to go, casinos in Suriname are scrambling to meet a deadline set for February 28 or face closure by the authorities. License holders have till Monday to comply with the terms set out in their license and the relevant laws. 

If licenses granted by the Wijdenbosch administration in the period 1996-2000 are not operational by Monday, they become invalid. According the regulation casinos can only be operational if their activities are embedded in a fully functioning hotel operation.

Most operating casinos currently don’t meet this requirement and in August 2004 were given a six month period to comply. A one year extension, exclusively given by the president, is possible if casino owners could present plans, that they could meet the requirements within a year.

But owners with ‘sleeping’ licenses who failed to get their business up and running by Monday, will lose their permit.

Friday last week the opening of the spanking new ‘Princess Hotel & Casino’ at the last minute was delayed after government officials advised that the hotel license would not be handed over since the building didn’t meet all technical standards.

Eight of the twenty hotel rooms did not have a window and these are “potential coffins” if there is a fire, Trade minister Michael Jong Tjien Fa, told reporters Wednesday at a news conference. As soon as the technical requirements are in place, he will sign the hotel license.

The hotel managers however told media that the Fire Department approved of the building. Also on Friday another casino which is still under construction failed to launch since the authorities didn’t release the permit. Regulations indicate that casino-hotels should have at least twenty rooms that meet the standards of a three star hotel. 

When the Venetiaan-administration came into office in 2000, measures were taken to order the gambling sector. Since 1996 casinos popped up everywhere in the capital and other parts of the country and currently some 16 gambling houses are operational on a population of merely 480,000 people.

Still there are a number of ‘sleeping licenses’ out. Most people who were granted a casino permit didn’t make use of it, but sold it to the highest bidder. Licenses were sold for US$200,000 to US$300,000 each.

Although government is one of the top beneficiaries from the gambling business by cashing in millions of dollars from taxes, the cabinet is not in favor of this sector. Casinos are associated with illegal activities such as money laundering, illegal money transfers and drug trafficking.

On Friday, 12 February a casino manager and the owner of the casino he was affiliated with were arrested by immigration officers at the international airport when the manager tried to smuggle US$1 million to the Netherlands. They were handed over to police and subsequently jailed. Both suspects were slapped with a fine since the matter was settled out of court and the money they tried to smuggle was confiscated. 

In its approach to casino operations the government also took in consideration negative fall out of this business, such as gambling addiction, and disruption of families.

Vice-president Jules Ajodhia said Wednesday, that although casinos provide more then 2000 jobs, they should abide by the law and regulations. If they fail to comply, the necessary actions will be taken, the vice-president warned. Most of the casinos are managed by foreign companies who bring in their own foreign management staff, while the license holders are Surinamese citizens and most of the lower staff are local employees.

Between some of the gambling houses there is a bitter rivalry. December last year Suriname Palace Casino lost a fierce legal battle from opponent Mirage Casino, who evicted Suriname Palace Casino from a hotel building owned by Mirage.

The management of Suriname Palace Casino was also accused of illegal money transfers to the United States of America via a major bank. Allegedly more then US$30 million was transferred in 6 years.

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