Tourism minister Shawn Crockwell says he is still hopeful Bermuda can have its first casino up and running in time for the 35th America’s Cup.

However, Mr Crockwell conceded progress has taken longer than expected as the Bermuda Government strives to meet its “ambitious” 2017 deadline.

Since the Casino Act legislation was passed in the House of Assembly in December last year, few updates have been provided, other than the appointment of the Bermuda Gaming Casino Commission, with its executive director Richard Schuetz and general counsel Arlene Brock.

Giving a progress report to The Royal Gazette yesterday, Mr Crockwell said: “Obviously we would like to have it for the America’s Cup when there is going to be that volume of people in Bermuda.

“It would be great for whoever is operating it because they will be able to get off to a great start. That has always been the goal.

“The process has taken longer than I expected but there are a lot of components to this. There has to be consultation with various bodies and there are so many things you have to do to make sure that, once we are up and running, we are not falling foul of international standards.

“In a perfect world I would have liked us to be further along by now.

“We passed the act in 2014, we amended it in 2015 and we have been getting some criticism about it taking too long. People think that once we passed the act then we should be able to open a casino but it doesn’t work that way — the regulations are really the most important part of the whole legislative structure.

“We have been working on them all along. Are we going to meet that goal? It is ambitious because once people have made their application there is a period of time where they have to get vetted and the like.

“We cannot take a short cut in this process. If we don’t make it we will be disappointed, so I can tell you that it is still the Government’s goal to achieve that goal, keeping in mind that it is the gaming commission that will be entertaining the applications so I am not in a position to direct them to do anything.

“I think 2017 is still very possible. Whether we do it by the summer of 2017, later in the year or early 2018.”

Mr Crockwell explained that the next stage will be to complete the regulations to supplement the legislation and to begin working on site designation.

“The priority at this stage is to bring the affirmative resolutions that will give me the power to select sites as designated sites for casinos which is done with the advice of the commission. Then the Parliament has to approve recommendations that I make,” he said.

“There are a plethora of regulations that need to go through Parliament. Some deal with the process of designating the site, some deal with the application process itself to make the application for a gaming licence. It is my hope to try to have all of those regulations dealt with during the next session in Parliament.

“We will definitely deal with the designated sites because that is the next logical stage for us so that those individuals who are interested can make an application. We may well be in the February session to approve all the regulations.”

Mr Crockwell said that discussions were already under way with regards to creating casino industry training programmes for Bermudians.

He said Government was currently considering different proposals and made a commitment that training will be available at least a year before the first casino opens.

Mr Crockwell added: “The justification was always to ensure that Bermudians will be employed in the casinos and this will be a job creation opportunity. If you have all three operating at the same time it could create close to 900 jobs.

“The executive director has been in dialogue with Bermuda College to see if there can be some sort of partnership.”