By Jasmin Bonimy ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ jasmin@nasguard.com:
There is widespread support within the Free National Movement's parliamentary group for the legalization of gambling for Bahamians, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham confirmed yesterday, but he made it clear that no final decision has been made on the controversial issue as yet.
Speaking to reporters outside the Cabinet Office in downtown Nassau, Ingraham said he has already consulted several groups on the matter, including the Free National Movement's Central Council and members of his parliamentary team.
He added that he also informed Opposition Leader Perry Christie and Bain and Grants Town Member of Parliament Dr. Bernard Nottage that the government is considering the matter.
"I have also met with the Christian Council," he said. "I told them that we have not made a final decision but that the matter was being considered and that I would get back to them when we would have further discussed the matter and arrived on a conclusion. But generally speaking there has been great support among the parliamentary group and the council of the FNM for the regularization of the numbers business."
Additionally, Ingraham told reporters that legalizing gambling for Bahamians could generate substantial revenues for the government.
"The chickens aren't hatched yet. I'm not counting the chickens yet. But if the government did so we would expect to get significant revenue from the operation," Ingraham said.
In the past, the prime minister has said that legalizing gambling was not a part of his third term's legislative agenda - which began when his party won the 2007 general election. However, Ingraham also noted that he would not stand in the way of changing the country's gaming laws.
While a new legislative agenda will be announced when Parliament reopens today, it is unclear if the government plans to include legalizing gambling for Bahamians in the Speech from the Throne, which will be read by the new Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes.
"The government has been considering the question, as to whether or not we will bring in the formal economy of The Bahamas an operation that tens of thousands of Bahamians are engaged in on a daily basis," said Ingraham.
"I've made previous public comments about this and I will refer to my distress and discomfort of our inability to be able to police our laws with respect to the numbers business."
Over the years the Bahamas Christian Council and the Bahamas Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention both have expressed strong opposition to gambling.
Despite its history of opposition to legalized gambling for Bahamians, Ingraham insisted that he is not placing special emphasis on the Christian Council's opinion on the matter.
"We're not placing weight on anyone," he said. "We are consulting and getting the views of others. We know the views of some. We know the views of others and we are not so certain about the views of some people. But at the end of the day it is our decision to make one way or the other."
The views of some of Ingraham's Cabinet ministers on the issue have also been made public since the FNM won the 2007 general election.
In 2008 National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest said that he thinks there should be a referendum to answer the gambling question once and for all.
In June 2009, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis went on record saying that he supported the legalization of the local "numbers business" — which is a form of lottery gambling. His comments were made at the time when debate had heated up over the legalization of gambling for Bahamians and legal residents, after the arrest of businessman Craig Flowers a month earlier. One of the shops that fall under Flowers' FML Group of Companies was raided by police and Flowers and some of his staff arrested. They were later charged in a magistrate's court with various gambling offenses. During the heated debate labor unions, employers' associations and business leaders also came out in support of the legalization of various forms of gambling for Bahamians and legal residents.
In May 2009 President of The Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) Robert Sands told The Nassau Guardian that his organization supports a national lottery and amending the country's gaming laws to allow legal foreign residents to gamble in casinos. The BHA does not support legalizing casino gambling for Bahamians.
President of the National Congress of Trade Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB) John Pinder also said the organization supports a national lottery.
Former president of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Dionisio D'Aguilar told The Nassau Guardian that there is a consensus among business people that a public lottery should be allowed.
April 14, 2010
thenassauguardian
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