ST. CROIX — Senator Angel Bolques Jr. seeks to subpoena VIGL Operations LLC to receive an update on its construction timeline for renovations at the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack after sending the franchisee five invitations to testify before his committee without success.
As chair of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Aging, Sports and Parks, Bolques sent written notifications to VIGL Operations in January, February, March, May, and June requesting the company’s representatives to appear before his committee to discuss the progress of construction at the racetrack.
“I have only received what seems to be excuses by VIGL concerning coming into each hearing, so I actually wrote another letter July 10 letting them know that they will be subpoenaed at my next hearing,” Bolques said.
The committee chair will convene his next meeting August 30. He is not inviting VIGL to attend that meeting. Instead, he is prepared to entertain a motion to subpoena the company during the first block of the meeting. The subpoena would require VIGL to appear before the committee during a meeting that will be scheduled sometime in September.
“Being that we’ve tried to reach out to them on numerous occasions to come in to give a report on the status of the building of the horse racetrack on the island of St. Croix, I definitely want to dig deeper, because they have been sort of evading our request to come in,” Bolques said. “So, I’m expecting to get a full, detailed update from VIGL concerning every aspect of that horse racing track. I want timelines, I want to know what the status is on funds that have been received, permits, everything.”
Bolques isn’t the only senator eager to hear from VIGL on the status of its racetrack renovation project.
Senator Carla Joseph issued a press release Monday urging Bolques to hold a hearing regarding the status VIGL’s development of the St. Croix racetrack. She pointed out VIGL received its initial one-year license to operate a casino at the racetrack in April, noting that the company stated at the time that it was ready to move forward with a $20 million racetrack project.
Joseph, in her press release, expressed concern about the status of the project that VIGL Operations has been working toward since 2016. She noted that while both island districts encountered severe impacts from the hurricanes of 2017, seven years later, the Clinton E. Phipps Racetrack on St. Thomas has re-established racing. She stated, however, that there has been no word on plans or progress for the St. Croix racetrack.
Southland Gaming of the Virgin Islands is the franchisee for the St. Thomas racetrack. Joseph noted SGVI, which operates video lottery terminals at the Phipps racetrack, has already held two races at the St. Thomas track.
Joseph said by phone today that Senator Javan James Sr. sponsored a measure to provide VIGL with funds toward the construction of the racetrack with the appropriation of $5 million, referring to Act No. 8651 (Bill No. 34-0340). She questioned what more VIGL wants from the government. Joseph said she has had extensive conversations with Bolques about having VIGL testify before his committee, noting that the company has been giving excuses instead of appearing before senators.
Joseph noted that Southland Gaming has built up the Phipps racetrack from nothing.
“Southland Gaming has been honest, they have been upfront, they have done what they said they were going to do,” she said. “We need to hold VIGL’s foot to the fire to do the same thing in the St. Croix District or else they need to get out; they need to get out and we need to do something else, because I’ve been getting reports that VIGL is looking to invest in horse racetracks in other eastern Caribbean nations.”
