Above: the Crystal Palace Casino in Nassau

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Nassau’s Crystal Palace Casino closed on Thursday, ahead of the debut of the Baha Mar resort.

The casino, which was the largest casino in New Providence, first opened as the Cable Beach Casino in 1983, rebranding as the Crystal Palace in 1988 when owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.

Baha Mar is converting the Crystal Palace complex into a training facility for Baha Mar employees.

The Baha Mar, the Caribbean region’s largest resort property, will have its own branded casino when it opens on March 27.

The current Crystal Palace casino team will be transitioning to the Baha Mar, with a total of 55 employees.

“We’re fortunate to have the experienced casino team from Crystal Palace to help us open the beautiful, state-of-the-art Baha Mar Casino & Hotel,” said Paul Pusateri, chief operating officer at Baha Mar. “Our Baha Mar casino team will provide guests with a best-in-class gaming experience that will draw players from around the globe.” Baha Mar continues to hire and train thousands of new employees for areas throughout the resort, including the casino, hotels, food and beverage, security, guest relations and engineering.”

Baha Mar first purchased the Crystal Palace property in 2005 from the Ruffin Group.