Kapolei casino, the proposal to be built on Department of Hawaiian Homelands land in Kapolei took a step forward after the Hawaiian Homes Commission voted to approve the idea in 5-4 vote last week.
Kapolei casino it’s far from a done deal – it would still have to get approval from state, the idea is also raising eyebrows in Las Vegas, which relies heavily on visitors from Hawaii who want to gamble.
Nicknamed the ‘Ninth Island’ thousands of Hawaii visitors come to Vegas each year, and Hawaii and Utah are the only two states where all forms of gambling are illegal.
“There’s a lot of curiosity I would say and I think to some people it’s absolutely mortifying that there could be a casino closer to the players,” says Scott Roeben with Vital Vegas.
Roeben says even if the plan were to go through, logistics could be a challenge. “Casinos don’t just magically happen you have to have company that’s more experienced with the gaming side of the business, and I don’t believe that talent pool exists in Hawaii right now.”
In the meantime, because of travel restrictions to return to Hawaii, Las Vegas is still struggling to get Hawaii visitation back up. Boyd casinos for example are offering testing sites to satisfy Hawaii’s Safe Travel requirements. “They’ve tried to make it easier, they’ve got these on site testing centers but the telling moment will be when the Main Street opens back up because that one’s almost completely reliant on visitors from Hawaii so the fact that it’s not open yet means the demand just hasn’t come back yet,” Roeben says.
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