Casino still closed?

Hi there..has anybody been there recently? Do you know if the casino is still closed?

We are leaving Saturday, Dec 16 for 5 weeks. Will check on the status and try and find out if anything has developed. The last we heard was that no movement had been done on the previous (Royal Casino) but a new small casino had been opened at the previous Hangout/Outback Restaurant. The Lacabana BRC Board of Directors has reported that they are actively trying to find an interested party and had tried to negotiate with the "new villa owners" but no agreement had been reached. The BOD said they were also looking at Casino parties in the US. But will try to fnd out some more info while down there. Lynda

melanieb44 wrote:

Hi there..has anybody been there recently? Do you know if the casino is still closed?

Hi Lynda,

I was in Aruba 11/16 - 11/28. I went by that new casino named Key Largo but did not stop in. I would appreciate any information you can find. Thanks!

l303 wrote:

We are leaving Saturday, Dec 16 for 5 weeks. Will check on the status and try and find out if anything has developed. The last we heard was that no movement had been done on the previous (Royal Casino) but a new small casino had been opened at the previous Hangout/Outback Restaurant. The Lacabana BRC Board of Directors has reported that they are actively trying to find an interested party and had tried to negotiate with the "new villa owners" but no agreement had been reached. The BOD said they were also looking at Casino parties in the US. But will try to fnd out some more info while down there. Lynda

melanieb44 wrote:

Hi there..has anybody been there recently? Do you know if the casino is still closed?

Will report when I get back.

melanieb44 wrote:

Hi Lynda,

I was in Aruba 11/16 - 11/28. I went by that new casino named Key Largo but did not stop in. I would appreciate any information you can find. Thanks!

l303 wrote:

We are leaving Saturday, Dec 16 for 5 weeks. Will check on the status and try and find out if anything has developed. The last we heard was that no movement had been done on the previous (Royal Casino) but a new small casino had been opened at the previous Hangout/Outback Restaurant. The Lacabana BRC Board of Directors has reported that they are actively trying to find an interested party and had tried to negotiate with the "new villa owners" but no agreement had been reached. The BOD said they were also looking at Casino parties in the US. But will try to fnd out some more info while down there. Lynda

melanieb44 wrote:

Hi there..has anybody been there recently? Do you know if the casino is still closed?

yes the big one is close now the back Lacabana has the Key Largo Casino and resturant and grill did not go in. but was the old hang out resturant.

We were there week of 12/3/06 and did walk thru the new "casino". As you can imagine its very small. We did not gamble there, did not get a real good feeling about the place.

barryf15 wrote:

We were there week of 12/3/06 and did walk thru the new "casino". As you can imagine its very small. We did not gamble there, did not get a real good feeling about the place.

Hi....is there table games there? or slots only? Why did you not get a good feeling?

Does anyone know what units are the ones shown here for LaCabana BRC? None of my 5 units look like that. Are they the newly renovated E or D (forgot which were renovated) units??? Thanks

"Hi....is there table games there? or slots only? Why did you not get a good feeling?" -------------------------------------------------------------------- Forgot to get back to you regarding the Casino at the old "Hangout". Now called Key Largo My husband and I actually enjoyed going to the casino and eating there. The decor seemed to me to be like Miami Beach. The bathrooms were very clean and nice. The casino is definitely small. LOTS of penny and nickel slots. Looked to be about 6 quarter slots and maybe 3 or 4 $1.00 slots. There was a number of Poker Slots, but since I do not play, can't tell you what $ kind they were. I got a decent payout on the quarter and dollar slots, most nights I kept even. There may be about 6 gaming Tables, which included roulette, craps, blackjack, and Texas Hold em. My husband is a roulette player, so he complained because there was only one table. We found the bar to be very nice and we went there quite a few times to have drinks. There was live band on a few nights that was pretty good. We tried the restaurant twice but found the wait for our meals to be entirely too slow. We ordered meals while sitting at the bar and were served very quickly. Liked that. We were able to get lunch and lite dinners very quickly, average food with average prices. We liked the casino because it was on site. We could walk and get our gambling fix without having to get in car or take taxi. Overall, we would rate the casino as OK. Not as loud as the casinos in some of the hotels, not as cold, but still smoky. Payouts were no different to us than other casinos that we visited while on the Island. We will definitely go back when we are in Aruba again. Hope this helps.

We were in Aruba from 12/18/2006 - 1/19/2007. The Royal Cabana is still closed and I am not sure of any future plans. The building looks very sad, with broken out windows and overgrown weeds/grass. If you talk to some realtors, they will tell you of plans to build shops and restaurants around the old casino, as well as open the casino. I know at some time in the future, there will be a water park nearby. So definitely think once we get news on the Villa sale things may go forward - but as of now, all we hear are rumors nothing definite. When we were at the Key Largo casino, we did notice lights on in the building. Don't know if the BRC is using it for office space or not - but was told that the BRC is paying utilities to keep the air conditioning on so that there is minimal damage to the insides.

Thanks for all your posts. It is very interesting. What kind of water park are they going to build? One with slides, lazy river, etc? Also, is the Lacabana Village place for sale?

If they build shops there, I'm not sure many people would go there except for those maybe staying in Lacabana. They really need to re-open that casino.

Does anybody know if the closing of the casino had any effect on the prices of the timeshares?

I picked up week 1 and 2 same unit, overlooking pool and ocean, $7000 apiece, my sis picked up week 1 on 3rd floor overlooking pool and ocean for $5000 at the LaCabana Beach and Racquet Club (BRC) - Now the BRC is looking to update/upgrade the rooms and are going to have to assess owners fees over a 3 yr period. Some complaints and some are saying they will have to sell. If so, you may pick up some at the BRC pretty reasonable. I find the prices going for a studio/1 BR from $4000-$12,000.

I am not interested in the Villas timeshares, but know there are some for sale pretty reasonable also. Don't know if the closing of the casino has had any effect on the prices or not. I find lots of people don't care, but they do not like the looks of the casino building with its overgrown grass and broken windows. BRC only has rights to the gambling floor so not sure they will have anything to do with the shops put in. I would love for the Casino to be reopened to its previous grandeur.

Since the split between the BRC and the Villas around 1 1/2 years ago, lots of cost has gone into the BRC purchasing their own equipment such as , telephones, computers, etc. Also there was a lot of mismanagement of funds done before, so the new Board is setting up new maintenance fees for us to catch up. Seems like we were using next years fees to pay this years costs. We were assessed a 15% increase last year, not sure what it will be for $2008.

The following is only hersay, not sure about but I believe the Villa's are managed by the Aruba Court or Bank - so yes it is for sale and may have already been bought - not sure about that. The Villa's only have about 20% of their rooms used as timeshares, it is mostly treated like a hotel.

so is the casino open or closed we ae going 4/6/07

richards399 wrote:

so is the casino open or closed we ae going 4/6/07

elisabeth_nj wrote:

richards399 wrote:

so is the casino open or closed we ae going 4/6/07

Royal Casino is CLOSED...the old "Hang Out" bar and restaurant (previously Outback Steakhouse also) has been converted into a temporary Casino. Its small but not bad! Very bright though. Too bright for 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning IMO. Its fine for a visit or 2.

Hi..why do you say it is a temporary casino? Did someone hint to that? Did anybody give indication that they would be opening the Royal Casino in the future?

Absolutely! Apparently an American Gaming company named the Gilman Group have purchased it and plan on renovating and reopening it...when is another question. I think they have to still go thru the hurdles of the courts since the previous owner owed LaCabana so much money in back rent, etc. Unfortunately for now its an eyesore! Broken windows, overgrown grass, etc. Obviously we all just need to Stay Tuned...