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The Chip Board Archive 13

Condado Holiday Inn History (P.R.)

I found this text on the WWW as part of a lawsuit involving the Condado Holiday Inn. In addition to providing some history, it also explains why you never see "casino" or "gambling" on any Puerto Rico matchbooks.


In 1975, appellant Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates, a partnership organized under the
laws of Texas, obtained a franchise to operate a gambling casino and began doing business
under the name Condado Holiday Inn Hotel and Sands Casino.2 In 1978, appellant was twice
fined by the Tourism Company for violating the advertising restrictions in the Act and
implementing regulations. Appellant protested the fines in a series of letters to the Tourism
Company. On February 16, 1979, the Tourism Company issued to all casino franchise
holders a memorandum setting forth the following interpretation of the advertising
restrictions:
"This prohibition includes the use of the word 'casino' in matchbooks, lighters,
envelopes, inter-office and/or external correspondence, invoices, napkins,
brochures, menus, elevators, glasses, plates, lobbies, banners, flyers, paper
holders, pencils, telephone books, directories, bulletin boards or in any hotel
dependency or object which may be accessible to the public in Puerto Rico."
App. 7a.
Pursuant to this administrative interpretation, the Tourism Company assessed additional
fines against appellant. The Tourism Company ordered appellant to pay the outstanding
total of $1,500 in fines by March 18, 1979, or its gambling franchise would not be renewed.
Appellant continued to protest the fines, but ultimately paid them without seeking judicial
review of the decision of the Tourism Company. In July 1981, appellant was again fined for
violating the advertising restrictions. Faced with another threatened nonrenewal «334» of its
gambling franchise, appellant paid the $500 fine under protest.3

2 The hotel was purchased in 1983 by Williams Electronics Corporation, is now organized as a public corporation
under Delaware law as Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates, Inc., and does business in Puerto Rico as Condado
Plaza Hotel and Casino.

3 News of the Tourism Company's decision to levy the fine against appellant reached the New Jersey Gaming
Commission, and caused the Commission to consider denying a petition filed by appellant's parent company for
a franchise to operate a casino in that State.


Copyright 2022 David Spragg