The financial crisis claims another planned casino. This one would have been BIG, and the first land development to carry the Caesars Palace name outside Las Vegas. Of course, trying to deal with the island politics had a lot to do with it.

Bahamas Lose Mega-Casino Deal With Harrah's

By Angela Bedford on March 10, 2008

NASSAU -- This afternoon, worldwide casino developer Harrah's Entertainment announced it has decided to call-off plans to build a mega-casino resort in the Bahamas. The project involved teaming up with local developer Baha Mar Resorts, Ltd., based out of Nassau.

The plan was to create a 2-billion dollar hotel, resort, and casino along Cable Beach, known for its beautiful sandy beaches and stunning sunsets. The company says it decided to cancel the project due to an unproductive and backward process led by the Bahamians.

According to Harrah's, "Regrettably, it has taken the Bahamians longer to organize the project than anticipated. We just simply cannot move forward any longer under these types of unworkable conditions."

The newly designed resort was intended for a 1,000-acre beachfront site that included an investment of more than $2 billion in its initial phase, was expected to have a work force of 10,000 people upon its completion in 2011.

The Bahamas, known throughout the west for land scams and fraudulent business activities, has developed an extremely bad reputation with investors. Attempts to contact Minister Carl Bethel to explain the situation went unanswered. During Carl Bethel's campaign in 2006, he was accused of being wanted on criminal charges including fraud in the United States stemming from shady dealings at his law firm based in Nassau.

According to Casino and Gaming industry analyst Steve Foulkes, "Harrah's made the right move by backing out of the Bahamas. There are better places to reinvest capital and expand operations, with less headaches."