Philipsburg:--- SMN News learnt that the government of St. Maarten has granted the Dolphin Casino license to Millennium Star NV, owned by Obencio Fleming. The source said the license was approved by the Heyliger/ National Alliance Government in 2010 but a letter was turned down by the five day executive council when they took office in October last year.Dolphin casino was housed in the Sunset Building owned by Member of Parliament Frans Richardson. However, the National Alliance/Heyliger government could not have granted the license to Millennium Star since there was an ongoing court case.
Constant rumors within the community claim that the United People's Party Minister of Economic Affairs Franklyn Meyers is using the license as a bargaining chip to get Richardson to jump ship from the National Alliance to Independent especially since the Minister's brother Etienne Meyers has invested in the future Dolphin Casino.
Minister Meyers in an invited comment said the Dolphin Casino license has not yet been issued because the process is not yet finalized. The Minister has promised to give a complete elucidation on the processing of the Dolphin Casino license on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers press briefing.
Even though the owner of Millennium Star, Obencio Fleming has not received all the necessary documents for Dolphin Casino, there are at least two investors from overseas and one locally that have already invested in the new casino. The source said cash transactions were made between the investors one from Trinidad and the other from the United States at the RBBT bank, thus allowing the renovations to take place.
The rumor of Richardson wanting to leave the National Alliance has been the hottest topic within recent weeks. When asked about this, Richardson has said openly that he was reconsidering his political future, none of which he said on the record. When contacted most recently Richardson said he has no statements to make and he is letting the people of St. Maarten say as much as they want, he went as far as saying that the reporters who wrote articles on his switching sides would have a lot of explaining to do when Parliament reopens on September 13.