St. Croix bets its future on casinos

Mireya Navarro

Thursday, Jan. 14, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands -- When Lisa Newkirk-Svarczkopf heard that casinos would soon open in this, the biggest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands, she moved her clothing store to a location three times the size of the old one in anticipation of a tourism boom.

"I thought I was getting a jump start on things by moving to a bigger spot," she said.

As it turned out, legalized gambling did not materialize as soon as she expected, and she had to move back to a smaller store. But her excitement and that of other St. Croix residents has not abated as the first casino is scheduled to open this fall. Casinos are seen as a catalyst to help bring back the economic prosperity that all but vanished in September 1989, when Hurricane Hugo left 90 percent of the buildings damaged and more than 20,000 people homeless.

"It's the beginning of our turnaround," Newkirk-Svarczkopf said. "We know it's just a matter of time because we know what a beautiful island this is."

Even though the Caribbean is full of islands with casinos, the U.S. Virgin Islands, where tourism accounts for two-thirds of the economy, had resisted starting their own. In a 1992 referendum, both St. Croix and St. Thomas voted the idea down, concerned with the unsavory aspects of gambling.

But the economic need for more tourism in St. Croix, a less popular tourist destination than St. Thomas and St. John, increasingly made residents here see casinos as a necessary evil. In another referendum four years ago, St. Thomas still said no but St. Croix's 60,000 residents relented.

The first casino is scheduled to open in September in the island's scenic eastern end, on the grounds of a hotel resort that was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo and is now being rebuilt as the 200-room Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino. The hotel, owned by Grapetree Shores, Inc., is expected to open a few months ahead of the casino, in April or May.