With casino business at Kerzner International Resorts’ Atlantis in The Bahamas said to be falling around 15% per year, the company has announced details of a multi-million dollar revamp. A big investment will be made in its casino to make it state-of-the-art in order to compete with all other casinos and to attract the globetrotting high rollers. Kerzner also hopes to bring back the US players that lately have deserted The Bahamas for gambling closer to home in places such as Florida, Pennsylvania and northeastern states.

According to George Markantonis, Kerzner International (Bahamas) managing director, US$100 million will be spent over the next two years on renovations and expansion, providing an additional 400 jobs. The plans include new restaurants, a huge teens club and a major upgrade of VIP suites as well as a new high end gaming area and lounge, plus a complete renovation of the Atlas and Dragons facilities using outside designers.

He said: "The biggest new attraction we are building, and I think it's very exciting, is going to be a 12,000 sq ft teen club, for the age of 13 to 17. The Atlantis Kids Adventure - AKA - has been a remarkable success, in fact such a success we've had teenagers asking why they can't attend? We do so much for the adults, we don't want to lose sight of another big chunk of our business which is the kids so this 12,000 facility is going to cost us between $10 million to $12 million. It doesn't exist today so that alone is going to bring on a very large workforce.

Markantonis added, "We've partnered with some organizations to be a Beta site for some of the newest and most advanced games in existence. These are the next step in technology where you are interacting with a screen without a controller. This is a big feature, this product has just been invented, one of the developers Microsoft is probably only releasing it November and December this year but we have already built it in and we will have a big part of the facility to do that. We are certain that when we have the world's greatest teen club open it's going to be a fantastic future for Atlantis. That's how many of these jobs are going to occur.”

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the minister of tourism and aviation, informed Kerzner recently that the reforms to the Bahamas' casino gaming laws suggested by Atlantis, the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) and others were being looked at very carefully. The proposals include allowing Bahamian casino staff to deal more than the one game presently permitted. The Minister has said that the committee for Gaming Reform, appointed last year to examine the country's gaming laws, has made "great headway."

The BHA has recommended that a wider variety of people in the Bahamas be allowed to gamble, that different types of games be permitted and that regulations that slow the pace of business in Bahamian casinos be adjusted. In late 2013 Kerzner will face competition closer to home when the Baha Mar project on Nassau’s famous Cable Beach, expected to create over 8,000 new jobs for Bahamian workers across all sectors of the hospitality industry, is projected to generate 2.3 million annual visitor room nights. (E-06.01.10)

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