Though it may be news to some, Puerto Rico is actually a part of the United States. Though it is not an official state, Puerto Rico is considered a territory that falls under the laws of the Federal Government of the US. The tiny Caribbean island nation is not home to a wealth of people, but it is a gambling mecca when compared to the rest of the United States. Seeing as most people who are not from the island only venture there for vacations, it seems like a no-brainer that the Puerto Rican government legalizes most forms of gambling.

Oasis Casino at Embassy Suites San Juan Review. The Oasis Casino at Embassy Suites San Juan is located at 8000 Tartak Street, in the Isla Verde district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. There is a wonderful 6,000 square foot casino attached to the hotel with 320 state-of-the-art slot machines and eight casino. A casino resort is a hotel with a casino on the premises, or a hotel situated adjacent to a casino. It provides guests with the stay-and-play convenience of lodging and gambling facilities located together, often including additional resort-style amenities as well. Casinos and Gambling Facts. The largest gambling city in Puerto Rico is San Juan with 8 gambling facilities, 92 tables games, 1,979 gaming, slot, and video poker machines. The largest casino in the entire country of Puerto Rico is Caguas Real Hotel & Casino which is located in Caguas. Caguas Real Hotel & Casino has 10 table games, 570 gaming and video poker machines.

When it comes to gambling online, however, this is where Puerto Rico begins to more resemble the rest of the United States. Though there is not a state-run network of online casinos, the thriving brick and mortar industry seems to be growing with each passing year, attracting millions and millions of tourists. This tropical island is a gambling mecca, and it is not likely that that will change anytime in the near future.

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Legal Status of Online Casinos & Gambling — Puerto Rico

As you will find in most other US states, Puerto Rico has no laws that make it strictly illegal to play at online casinos within the territory. As such, you will find that there are hundreds of online casinos at which you can play. Whether your forte is blackjack, roulette, or any other type of casino game you will find what you are looking for when you are in Puerto Rico. Because most people associate Puerto Rico as being a foreign country, they are wary about what they can and cannot do on the internet.

With that said, there is no need to worry because Puerto Rico is very friendly to gamblers, and does not mess with those that choose to take their craft online. While the fact that most every online casino that is available for Puerto Ricans exists outside of the US territory, there is no need for fear. US citizens have a fear of foreign companies, but the reality is that most every online casino that is available is completely trustworthy and that is something that can be verified by searching through the thousands of customer testimonials that exist all over the web. While fraudulent online casinos might have been a reality at one point, such is not the case anymore.

As for the establishment of an intra-territorial network of online casinos, that much has not really been discussed at gubernatorial meetings. The island nation is content with its brick and mortar offering, and quite frankly does not have the population to support an intrastate network like you would find in Nevada or New Jersey. With so many tourists coming there each year, however, there is an argument to be made to make it even easier for those folks to gamble. Imagine being able to be sitting on the beach and open up your computer to your favorite casino game online. That is what we hope the future of Puerto Rico looks like.

While it may seem like your options are limited when it comes to gambling online for real money in Puerto Rico, that is not true, either. In fact, most every online casino that is available can be accessed from any modern smartphone or tablet. No matter if it is an Apple or Android device, most desktop online casino sites are also available in mobile form. Whether it be a downloadable application or a game platform that can be played within your phone’s browser, real money gambling is never too far away.

Legal Status of Brick and Mortar Casinos — Puerto Rico

Being such a massive tourist destination, it should come as no surprise that Puerto Rico, for being such a small island, has so many brick and mortar casinos. In fact, within a few years the island is set to have more than 20 brick and mortar establishments where players can play backgammon, roulette, and just about any other casino game under the sun. To put things in perspective, the state of Montana is many hundreds of times bigger than Puerto Rico and only has a handful of casinos.

Unlike how it is in many other US states, the simple fact is that finding brick and mortar gambling locations in Puerto Rico is not difficult nor time-consuming. It is really a tiny island, so getting from point A to point B is never difficult. What’s more, a large number of the gamblers that head to Puerto Rico are vacationers looking to spend money. As such, it should come as no surprise that the gambling scene in Puerto Rico has been and will continue to be robust, to say the least. As we look ahead to the future, the establishment of new brick and mortar casinos is something that will more than likely directly coincide with the establishment of new resorts. More often than not, it is the resorts that host these lavish casinos.

If you are a gambler and are looking to take a vacation somewhere nice, Puerto Rico might be where you need to go. In addition to all of the brick and mortar sites that exist on the island, there are racetracks and card rooms that also allow you to play casino games. When it comes to gambling on the island of Puerto Rico, you really are spoilt for choice.

Puerto Rico Online Casinos & Gambling FAQ

Biggest
  • Abbreviation: PR
  • Motto: Joannes Est Nomen Eius
  • Capital City: San Juan
  • Population Estimate: 3,337,177 (29th)
  • Website: http://www2.pr.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Will I end up in Puerto Rico jail if I play at online casinos?

No. No matter what people tell you, there has never been a single person arrested for having played at online casinos in Puerto Rico. The fact of the matter is that while it may not be completely legal, playing at online casinos is not at all illegal either. The moral of the story is that you are completely safe to play at casinos that offer their services to those on the island.

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Can I deposit funds just like I can on the mainland?

Yes. It is important to remember that even though Puerto Rico is not an official state, it still operates very much like it is. This means that if you are able to hassle-free deposit in Pennsylvania, you will also be able to do the same in Puerto Rico without having to worry much at all.

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Are there a lot of poker sites I can play at?

Yes. There are casinos that offer poker as part of their game selection at the same time as there are sites that specialize in poker and poker only. When it comes down to it, you will find no shortage of places to play poker, no matter whether you want to play Hold’em, Stud, or any other variation.

Similar articles:
Dupont Plaza Hotel arson
DateDecember 31, 1986
Time3:30 p.m.[1]
VenueHotel Dupont Plaza
LocationSan Juan, Puerto Rico
Coordinates18°27′22″N66°4′13″W / 18.45611°N 66.07028°WCoordinates: 18°27′22″N66°4′13″W / 18.45611°N 66.07028°W
TypeFire
CauseArson
Deaths98
Non-fatal injuries140
ConvictedHéctor Escudero, Armando Jiménez, and José Rivera
SentenceJiménez: 75 years in prison
Escudero, Rivera: 99 years in prison

The Dupont Plaza Hotel arson was a fire that occurred at the Hotel Dupont Plaza (now San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1986.

The fire was set by three disgruntled employees of the hotel who were involved in a labor dispute with the owners. It claimed between 96 and 98 lives and caused 140 injuries. It is the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest in the history of the United States.[2]

  • 2Fire
  • 4Aftermath

Hotel history[edit]

The Dupont Plaza opened in 1963 as the Puerto Rico-Sheraton and was operated by the Sheraton hotel company until 1980, just before Sheraton imposed significant fire-safety measures in its hotels throughout the world.[3] Before national fire safety requirements were enacted in 1990, most hotels had implemented fire safety measures based on local regulations and ordinances, which in some localities were lax, despite frequent fires and fire-related deaths at hotels.[3] In June 1985, the Dupont Plaza was inspected by the local fire department and was found to have deficiencies in its safety systems, including malfunctioning equipment and lack of evacuation and emergency plans.[4] The fire sprinkler system, which was not criticized in the fire department's report,[4] was not automated, as it was in 95% of hotels across the U.S. at that time.[5] In 1985, there were 7,500 reported fires in hotels and motels across the U.S., with 85 deaths and $56 million in damages (equivalent to $111 million in 2018).[3]

Fire[edit]

Background[edit]

The employees of the hotel were in the middle of a labor dispute with hotel management; negotiations between the hotel and the employees' union, Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,[4][6] had begun in October 1986.[7] The union represented 250 out of the hotel's 450 total employees.[8] One of the main issues causing the dispute was an alleged management plan to terminate 60 union members from employment and replace them with non-union employees.[4] In the week the fire took place, there had been three smaller fires at the hotel: one in a linen closet, one in a pile of cardboard boxes, and another in a roll of carpeting. Management had then added thirty more security guards.[7] Tension between management and employees had become so great that desk clerks, taxi drivers, and local food stand employees were advising tourists to stay away from the hotel and its casino.[7] One week after the fire, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernández Colón, stated that, according to preliminary reports, in the days before the fire 'information was going around that something was going to happen'.[7]

Disaster[edit]

The employees' union called a meeting in the hotel's ballroom for the afternoon of December 31, 1986. At the conclusion of the meeting, around 3:00 pm, the 125 members present voted to go on strike starting at midnight.[4][9] At the time, the hotel was estimated to be at near-peak occupancy, with 900 to 1,000 guests.[7]

Three union members—Héctor Escudero Aponte, José Rivera López, and Arnaldo Jiménez Rivera—planned to set several fires with the intention of scaring tourists who wanted to stay at the hotel. At around 3:30 pm, they placed opened cans of chafing fuel in a storage room filled with newly purchased furniture, adjacent to the ballroom on the ground floor of the hotel.[4][10] While some of the labor organizers created a distraction by staging a fight just outside the doors to the ballroom, three men set the fuel alight.[10] The fire ignited the furniture and quickly burned out of control, growing to massive proportions and flashing over.

ATF truck at the scene

After flashing over in the ballroom (which witnesses confused with an explosion), the hot gases swept up the grand staircase into the lobby of the hotel. From there, the fire was drawn through the open doors of the casino by the smoke-eaters (devices in the ceiling that sucked the smoke from cigarettes out of the room) present throughout the casino. With more than 150 guests estimated to be in the casino when the fire started,[8] most of the deaths occurred in that area. Several months before the fire, hotel management had had the emergency exit doors locked to prevent theft, and the only other way out was through a pair of inward-opening doors. Some people pressed against the doors to no avail. Others leaped from the second-story casino through plate-glass windows to the pool deck below; many were injured.[10] Others died of smoke inhalation on upper floors of the casino. Still others were killed as they rode the elevators to the lobby, only to discover their path blocked by the fire when the doors opened. Those who were able to do so climbed to the hotel's roof, where an improvised helicopter rescue, including civilian, Commonwealth Police, Puerto Rico National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Navy helicopters from the Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station, transported people to safety.[7][10] Nancy Brensson, a survivor of the blaze, was one of those rescued by the helicopters:

We got to the 8th floor, but then there were people blocked by smoke. We ran to another stairway, and got down to the eighth floor again before we ran into the smoke ... [Near the roof] [h]elicopters circled around us, but it looked like they were afraid to land. Finally, one hovered about two feet above the roof. A co-pilot reached his hand out and pulled us to a step under the door. It looked like there was room in the back of the helicopter for two people. We squeezed five in.[7]

The Puerto Rico Fire Department was dispatched at around 3:40 pm and 13 firetrucks, 100 firefighters, and 35 ambulances responded. Firefighters extinguished the flames three hours later, although black smoke continued through the night.[7]

Casualties[edit]

The total number of deaths from the fire was at least 96, mostly by burns, and 140 people were injured; some sources give a death toll of 97 or 98.[5][11] Most of the victims were burned beyond recognition and their belongings destroyed, with only a small percentage of readily identifiable bodies.[7] 84 bodies were found in the casino, 5 in the lobby, 3 in an elevator, and 2 at a pool-side bar outside the hotel.[8]

Aftermath[edit]

Investigation[edit]

An investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration revealed 25 safety violations, including a lack of emergency exit doors in the casino area leading to the deaths of 84 trapped guests.[6]

ATF agents sifting through the rubble of the Dupont Plaza Hotel

FBI San Juan personnel worked closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to identify suspects and build cases against them.[12] The union representing the hotel employees denied that it or any of its members had been involved in starting the fire, and offered a $15,000 reward for information that would help the investigation.[7]

In April 1987, union members Héctor Escudero Aponte, 35; Armando Jiménez Rivera, 29; and José Francisco Rivera López, 40, pleaded guilty to setting the New Year's Eve fire.[13] They had started the fire to put pressure on hotel management to settle with union demands.[14] Rivera López had urged the other two men to start the fire and gave the Sterno can provided by Jiménez Rivera to Escudero Aponte, who in turn placed and lit the Sterno can under furniture stored in the ballroom.[14] Escudero Aponte had intended to start only a small fire.[15]

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The three men were subsequently convicted of murder and prosecutors requested Rivera López be sentenced to 25 years in prison and Jiménez Rivera to 24 years. The judge rejected the prosecutor's recommendation, sentencing Escudero Aponte and Rivera López both to 99 years in prison and Jiménez Rivera to 75 years.[14][16] Jiménez Rivera and Rivera López were subsequently released from federal prison in 2001 and 2002, respectively.[10]

Lawsuits[edit]

United States law firms whose past liability cases included the MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas and a Stouffer's Hotel fire in New York State sent attorneys to represent fire victims.[17] 2,300 plaintiffs ultimately filed 264 separate lawsuits against 230 defendants, seeking a total of $1.8 billion in damages. These were consolidated in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in San Juan.[6] The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit referred to the consolidated lawsuit as a 'litigatory monster'.[18]

Ritz-carlton San Juan

Raymond L. Acosta, assigned as trial judge for the claims, divided the trial into phases, for which representative plaintiffs were selected. The first phase, against the so-called DuPont-family defendants, who included the corporation that owned the hotel and some 40 limited partnerships, corporations, and individuals who the plaintiffs claimed controlled the hotel, went to trial on March 15, 1989. This phase was settled on May 11, 1989, for between $85 million and $100 million.[6][19]

The second phase, against 107 defendants consisting of suppliers and other product liability parties, went to trial about 45 days later.[20] After nine months of trial, the Court directed verdicts of no liability in favor of three defendants: Johnson Controls, Inc., represented by Chicago's Arnstein & Lehr, LLP; Barber Colman, Inc., represented by Boston's Cooley, Manion, Moore & Jones; and Quantum Chemical, represented by Louisville, Kentucky's Brown, Todd & Heyburn.[21] A number of the other defendants had settled and trial resumed against 36 remaining defendants on May 14, 1990.[22]

After 15 months of trial, the jury reached its verdict following one week of deliberations. Of the 10 remaining defendants the jury found five not liable.[23] In all, payments for the deaths and injuries totaled more than $210 million and court records show that the case involved more than 1,000,000 documents.[24]

Legacy[edit]

The Dupont Plaza Hotel fire and other fires of the era gave rise to several amendments to security policies in hotels around the world. One of the biggest problems at the time was the lack of standard fire safety requirements. The hotel included an unsprinklered 17-story tower that housed 423 guest rooms. The fire alarm system in the tower was not working, and many guests were not aware of the fire until they saw or smelled it, heard someone shouting 'Fire', or heard firefighters responding.[8] In 1987, there were four major fire codes across the United States with over 1,800 variations because of local codes and ordinances,[3] with one code having significant fire protection requirements, and another having nothing.[3]

On September 25, 1990, three years after the disaster, the United States enacted the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990, requiring all hotels and other public accommodations wanting to accommodate federal workers or hold federally funded activities to have smoke detectors in all guest rooms and to have working sprinkler systems if the building had more than three stories.[25] U.S. Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert stated that the law was one of the first times the U.S. government took 'direct action to protect the public at large from the danger of fire'.[25] The United States Fire Administration has credited the Dupont Plaza fire along with the MGM Grand fire in 1980 as the catalysts for the safety requirements being signed into law.[26]

AIG, a lead insurance underwriter supplying coverage for the blaze, ended up acquiring title to the shuttered hotel in June 1989, as part of the settlement of claims arising from the fire.[27] In October 1992, AIG announced plans to completely renovate the hotel at a cost of $130 million and rebrand it as a Marriott.[28] The hotel reopened on February 16, 1995, as the San Juan Marriott Resort & Casino.[29]

See also[edit]

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  • Winecoff Hotel fire, the deadliest hotel fire in United States history
  • 2009 Cataño oil refinery fire, an oil refinery explosion and fire in Puerto Rico
  • Humberto Vidal explosion, a gas explosion in Puerto Rico
  • Morris J. Berman oil spill, an oil spill on the north coast of Puerto Rico

References[edit]

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  1. ^Thompson, Kristy D. (June 8, 2011). 'Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire Puerto Rico 1986'. Nist.gov. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  2. ^Un héroe 25 años despuésArchived February 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine on El Vocero; Camilo Torres, Raúl (December 28, 2011).
  3. ^ abcdeGrimes, Paul (February 15, 1987). 'Take This Fire Safety Savvy With You When You Check In At A Hotel'. The New York Times News Service and the Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  4. ^ abcdefMay, Clifford (January 7, 1987). 'Puerto Rico Inquiry Said To Focus On Several Union Hotel Workers'. The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  5. ^ abMower, Joan (March 8, 1987). 'Dupont Plaza Fire Survivors Still Trying to Come to Terms With Tragedy'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  6. ^ abcdAssociated Press (May 13, 1989). 'Suits Are Settled In San Juan Fire'. The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  7. ^ abcdefghijHirsley, Michael (January 2, 1987). 'Labor Hostility Cited'. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  8. ^ abcdRobinson, Kathleen (November 1, 2012). 'Looking Back: The 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire'. National Fire Protection Association Journal. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  9. ^Diamond, Mark (August 1, 1987). 'Anatomy of a Disaster: The DuPont Plaza Hotel Fire'. ABA Journal. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  10. ^ abcdeTepfer, Daniel (December 30, 2011). 'A vacation in paradise turns into fiery hell'. Connecticut Post. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  11. ^'Analysis Of Carboxyhemoglobin And Cyanide In Blood From Victims Of The Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire In Puerto Rico'(PDF). Fire.nist.gov. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 6, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  12. ^'FBI San Juan History'. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  13. ^Suarez, Manuel (April 25, 1987). '3 Admit setting hotel fire that killed 97 in San Juan'. The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  14. ^ abc'Judge imposes 99-year terms in San Juan fire'. The New York Times. June 23, 1987. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  15. ^Miles, Martha A.; Rand Herron, Caroline (January 18, 1987). 'Workers arrested in hotel arson'. The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
  16. ^'4 F. 3d 982 – Jose Francisco Rivera-Lopez v. United States'. Openjurist.org. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  17. ^Chicago Tribune, January 6, 1987.
  18. ^The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 1989; In re Recticel Foam Corp., 859 F. 2d 100 (1st Cir. 1988).
  19. ^The Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition (New York, N.Y.), May 15, 1989.
  20. ^The National Law Journal, October 15, 1990.
  21. ^The National Law Journal, October 15, 1990 as corrected on November 5, 1990; Merrill's Illinois Legal Times, July 1990.
  22. ^Chicago Tribune, May 15, 1990.
  23. ^NFPA Journal, 1999.
  24. ^The DuPont Tragedy Revisited (George Davis) www.ccgtcc-ccn.com/DuPontPlaza.
  25. ^ abWade, Betsy (April 20, 1997). 'Hotels Burn'. The New York Times News Service and the Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  26. ^'Summary of Law: The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (PL101-391)'. FEMA.gov. U.S. Fire Administration. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  27. ^Luxnor, Larry (October 27, 1992). 'AIG to invest $130 million to rebuild Puerto Rico's burnt-out Dupont Hotel'. www.joc.com. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  28. ^http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2001/vol5n08/CBMarriot-en.html
  29. ^Rosner, Kara (April 2006). 'The San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino Receiving $35 million Renovation; 402 Guestrooms, Ballrooms and Casino Getting Total Makeover / April 2006'. www.hotel-online.com. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2018.

External links[edit]

  • 'Hotels Burn'. Articles.chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  • 'Hotel Fire Case, Dupont Plaza Hotel'. Iklimnet.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  • 'Copy of Dupont Plaza Hotel Arson'. Prezi.com. Retrieved December 30, 2017.

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