Originally expected to open a few months ago, the Ovalle Casino Resort in Chile opened its doors to eager players on Saturday; ahead of the September 4 deadline.

The casino has been authorized by the Chilean Gaming Control Board (SJC) to operate for a period of 15 years, and through excise tax, the Ovalle Municipality and the Regional Government of Coquimbo will equally share the equivalent of 20% of gross gaming revenue, according to Spanish-language news outlet El Dia.

Commenting on the Boldt-Peralada Group, the casino’s general manager, Juan Almagro told the news outlet that the group’s interest in investing in Ovalle was, among other factors, to match the vision of the company with the challenges the community and region are facing. He went on to explain that the partnership shares the challenge of positioning Ovalle as a tourist destination, and would steer economic and cultural development in a sustainable manner to protect the typical values of its people.

In addition to a cactus museum, art exposition, meeting facility, 1,200 seat amphitheater, and observatory, the Ovalle Casino Resort includes a 78-room four-star hotel, four restaurants and one cafeteria-style eatery, hotel bar, disco, swimming pool, and wine spa, with sauna and gym. The casino features a 60-seat bingo hall, 230 last generation slot machines featuring an innovative 3D platform and progressives, as well as 13 gaming tables, which feature Blackjack variant Perfect Pairs, Draw Poker, Texas Hold’em Plus, one cash table for No Limit Texas Hold’em, Mini Craps, and five American Roulette tables. According to the news agency, all of the new gambling machines guarantee a return rate of not less than 85 percent.

Work began on the facility on April 3, 2014, after winning the license in September 2013. The developers, the Boldt Group in association with Grup Peralada, were granted an extension last June by the Superintendent of Casinos. That was after announcing that the casino resort, which is Ovalle’s largest private investment ever, had a projected opening of March 12, 2016, with an expected soft opening in February. However, because the entire process of permits and acceptance in Limarí’s provincial capital is a rigorous and complex one, with multiple agencies needing to approve various aspects of the development, that wasn’t feasible. The developers were then given a new deadline of September 4, 2016, to begin the casino operation, with other aspects of the resort to follow and be completed by March 4, 2017.

Casino Ovalle, along with 16 other establishments currently in operation located in the municipalities of Antofagasta, Calama, Copiapo, San Antonio, Rinconada, Santa Cruz, Mostazal, Talca, Talcahuano, Los Angeles, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno, Castro, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas, have been approved under gaming Law No. 19,995.

In total, the $50 million development created 1,500 temporary and permanent positions and is one of the most important private gaming facilities in the Region of Coquimbo.