PM Browne: Gov't Backed Cassada Gardens Redevelopment but Drew Line at Gaming Tax Waiver

Prime Minister Gaston Browne has defended the Government's handling of the proposed Cassada Gardens Racetrack redevelopment, insisting his administration supported the EC$30 million investment but refused to exempt a foreign investor from the mandatory eight percent gaming fee — a move he said would have created an unfair competitive advantage.

According to Antigua.news, Browne's remarks came in direct response to a public statement from the Antigua Turf Club, which said negotiations over the redevelopment stalled after the Government and the prospective investor failed to agree on one element of the proposed concession package.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Prime Minister outlined the incentives already approved to facilitate the investment. "Our government gave the foreign investor a ten-year corporate tax holiday, a casino licence, among other concessions," Browne stated.

Negotiations broke down, he said, when the investor sought an additional exemption from the statutory gaming levy. "They demanded a waiver of the eight percent gaming fee which all owner-operators are required to pay," Browne noted, arguing that granting the request would have put existing gaming operators at a disadvantage. "To waive it would give them an unfair advantage and we declined their offer."

Browne pushed back firmly against any characterisation of the Government as being opposed to the Cassada Gardens project. Pointing to the concessions already on the table, he questioned the criticism. "How does that translate into the government not supporting the project?" he asked.

The Prime Minister went further, suggesting that if the project's financial viability hinged on the gaming tax waiver, the Government would sooner extend comparable support to a local investor. "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.

Browne closed with a firm statement on fiscal responsibility, signalling the administration's intent to guard public revenues. "No plundering and bartering of government's tax revenue will be entertained," he declared.