The chairman of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission has accused parliamentarians of potentially deterring “hundreds of millions” of dollars’ worth of investment in the island by Caesars Entertainment Corporation with their “political theatre”.

Alan Dunch said questions raised in the House of Assembly last month about an exploratory visit to Bermuda by representatives of the casino operator — including the former wife of commission executive director Richard Schuetz — may have put paid to hundreds of jobs for Bermudians.

In a lengthy statement issued yesterday, Mr Dunch said he and Mr Schuetz personally appealed to Michael Dunkley, the Premier, the Cabinet and the Opposition last year to “not make us a part of the toxicity that often surrounds the political discourse of this island” and to visit the commission’s office if they had questions.

Mr Dunch said statements made in Parliament on June 24, and further comments to The Royal Gazette by Progressive Labour Party MP Zane DeSilva, made clear “they did not honour or respect our request, nor take up our invitation”.

In the House, Mr DeSilva queried why Mr Schuetz “invited Caesars to Bermuda to set up business”, while party colleague Rolfe Commissiong questioned whether Mr Schuetz’s background in Las Vegas could “invoke potential conflicts of interest, bearing in mind that Caesars has been invited to look at the Bermuda market”.

PLP backbencher Derrick Burgess referred to the Caesars team that came here, including “Mr Schuetz’s wife”.

The Caesars representative referred to by Mr Burgess was Jan Jones Blackhurst, a former mayor of Las Vegas and executive vice-president of government relations and corporate responsibility for Caesars.

She and Mr Schuetz divorced more than a decade ago, according to Mr Dunch, who said that they had no children together or financial dealings with one another but remained friends.

The chairman said he and Mr Schuetz met Ms Jones Blackhurst in her office at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in September 2015, when they discussed the island’s “fledgeling effort ... to introduce integrated resort casinos” and invited Caesars to visit Bermuda.

The meeting resulted in Ms Jones Blackhurst and another Caesars representative paying a visit to the island to “explore it as an investment opportunity”.

Mr Dunch said: “The two representatives of Caesars travelled to Bermuda at the expense of Caesars. They also stayed at a hotel in Hamilton; again, at the expense of Caesars.”

He said they met Shawn Crockwell, the tourism minister at the time, as well as Mr Schuetz, Garry Madeiros, the commission’s deputy chairman, and its outside legal counsel.

“All individuals involved in these meetings were aware of the fact that Mr Schuetz and Ms Jones Blackhurst had at one time been married and to suggest otherwise is either a function of bad memory or an effort to deceive,” Mr Dunch said.

“The commission is bewildered as to how anyone could conclude that the relationship between Mr Schuetz and Ms Jones Blackhurst could constitute a conflict of interest. Such a suggestion has no basis.”

Mr Dunch, a lawyer, said Caesars was “heavily regulated in a great many jurisdictions” and the comments in Parliament would invite scrutiny that could be costly, time-consuming and potentially damaging to the company’s 68,000 or so employees.

“Those who wish to criticise should ensure they have their facts right before casting aspersions,” he said.

“We are confident that should any regulatory entity feel compelled to look into Mr DeSilva’s statements, it will quickly come to understand those statements for what we believe they were: namely, political theatre.” Mr Dunch was unwilling to answer further questions put to him by The Royal Gazette last night.

Update: this story has been amended so that the headline gives a hypothesis rather than an absolute

• For the full commission press statement, click on the PDF link under “Related Media