Prime Minister Gaston Browne has pushed back against claims that the Government blocked the proposed Cassada Gardens Racetrack redevelopment, insisting the administration supported the investment through significant concessions but drew the line at waiving a mandatory 8 percent gaming fee.
According to Antigua News Room, Browne's remarks came in response to a public statement from the Antigua Turf Club, which said negotiations over a proposed EC$30 million redevelopment project stalled after the Government and a foreign investor failed to reach agreement on one element of the concession package.
In a statement posted Tuesday, the Prime Minister outlined the incentives his administration had already approved for the investor. "Our government gave the foreign investor a ten year corporate tax holiday, a casino license among other concessions," Browne wrote.
The sticking point, he said, was the investor's demand to be exempted from the statutory gaming levy paid by all owner operators. "However, they demanded a waiver of the 8 percent gaming fee which all owner operators are required to pay."
Browne argued that granting such an exemption would create an uneven playing field in the gaming industry. "To waive it would give them an unfair advantage and we declined their offer," he said.
The Prime Minister challenged the notion that refusing the waiver amounted to opposing the redevelopment project altogether. "How does that translate into the government not supporting the project?" he asked.
Browne also signalled that if the foreign investor's financial model depended on the gaming fee exemption, the Government would be open to directing the same concession package to a local operator instead. "If the foreign investor is depending on that tax waiver to develop the facility, we rather give the concession to a local operator, including the Turf Club itself," he said.
The Prime Minister closed his statement with a firm warning against what he described as excessive reductions in government revenue. "No plundering and bartering of government's tax revenue will be entertained," Browne wrote.
The Antigua Turf Club had previously argued that the requested concession was part of a financial model designed to keep funds invested within the redevelopment of the publicly owned racetrack, rather than allowing capital to leave the project. The club said it would submit an updated proposal and expressed hope that dialogue with the Government could continue.
