Anglican Bishop speaks out against gambling
By ALESHA CADET - tribune242:
ONE of the largest religious denominations in the Bahamas has officially spoken out against the proposed legalisation of gambling.
In a statement issued this week, Anglican Bishop Rev Laish Boyd said the church "does not support any plan to legalise the 'Numbers business' in the Bahamas with a view to taxing the proceeds of that business. In spite of the widespread acceptance of playing numbers, the Anglican Church opposes it, never mind how many persons see no harm in legalising it."
According to the pro-gambling Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee (BGR), Bishop Boyd's position is "hypocritical" because the church itself organises raffles and other prize games.
Responding to the statement yesterday, Sidney Strachan, chairman of (BGR) , said: "The Anglican Church is being hypocritical with the statement made saying the government shouldn't use gambling as a source of revenue for the country.
"When the Anglican Church needed money they themselves turned to gambling; when they got desperate that is what they turned to. The Anglican Church offers prizes for raffling."
But Bishop Boyd said that to explain the church's position, "we need to look for a moment at the term 'gambling'. Gambling is a broad subject area encompassing games or activities involving some risk with the potential for granting an advantage to the person or persons who 'play' or are involved.
"Some persons condemn all forms of this activity. There are others who tolerate them in varying degrees. For example, many persons have no difficulty with raffles and door prizes, or with a game of bingo. These are isolated and individual events which are usually held for fundraising and charitable causes.
Raffle
"Bahamians and Turks and Caicos Islanders will buy a raffle ticket, or a door prize ticket at an event, and give no second thought to it; they see it as harmless, as I believe these involvements to be.
"It is this reasoning that let the 108th session of our Diocesan Synod meeting in October, 2008, to approve the allowance of raffles by our Anglican Schools as a means of fundraising. This came after many years of a moratorium on the holding of raffles in the diocese that was put in place during the time of Bishop Michael Eldon."
The bishop said that Numbers, on the other hand, "is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week enterprise in which persons engage and which is definitely habit-forming and downright addictive for a majority of its participants. It is a system which is designed to exploit the participants so that the few will benefit at the expense of the many. "The modern-day reality is that this form of gambling is easily accessible to all via the internet, via numerous 'web shops' and via other means. Persons can play with as little as 10 cents. This easy access leads to widespread use by persons of all ages, classes, backgrounds and socio-economic standings.
"Why do we stand as a church opposed to its legalisation and subsequent taxation? It is a matter of morality and of the moral responsibility which leaders have for those whom they lead."
However, Mr Strachan said that the church has yet to prove that gambling has had a negative impact on morals in any way.
"The Numbers business has provided more jobs and charitable donations over the last 40 years. If the government uses numbers for a worthy cause then that too should be justifiable," Mr Strachan said.
May 19, 2010
tribune242
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Showing posts with label Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Former Government Minister Theresa Moxey-Ingraham speaks out against anti-gambling laws
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
A FORMER FNM minister and MP has lashed out at the Government and police, accusing them of "terrorising peaceful citizens" as they continue to enforce anti-gambling laws.
Theresa Moxey-Ingraham yesterday described the use of "valuable police resources" to raid web shops where members of the public are "engaging in peaceful and personal activity within the precincts of a licensed business establishment" as a "travesty".
"In a time when crime is rampant, known criminals are on the loose and traffic violations are the order of the day, there is so much of greater value for our Police to pay attention to," said the ex-cabinet minister.
Mrs Moxey-Ingraham made her comments yesterday in a letter to The Tribune, written in her capacity as a member of the Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee. The BGRC wants to see a relaxation of the Bahamas' anti-gaming laws to allow Bahamians and Bahamas residents to gamble.
It claims the laws prohibiting them from doing so, while visitors can at will, are discriminatory and are causing The Bahamas to lose its competitive touristic standing in the region, among other things.
Referring to the enforcement of the laws, which the BGRC consider outdated, Mrs Moxey-Ingraham, who served as MP for Golden Gates from 1992 to 2002 and held numerous ministerial portfolios under the former Ingraham administration, said the "time has long come and gone for this nonsense to stop".
Her comments come in the wake of recent raids on web shops in New Providence, in which a number of customers and employees were taken into custody, and cash was seized by police.
At the time of one of those raids - that of the Collins Avenue location of the Island Luck web cafe on Tuesday March 9 - a number of officers admitted to The Tribune that they saw "no sense" in what they were doing as the numbers house would in all likelihood be open for business again in 24 hours - along with the countless others throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said: "Government should not be in the business of making criminals and fugitives out of its citizens, especially over matters such as gaming which can be classified as a 'victimless' activity.
"Our citizens and residents ought to enjoy the same recreational privileges as visitors to these shores, and they have shown by their quiet persistence and their determination that despite feeble attempts by government and the Police to stop them, they fully intend to take ownership of their inherent right to equal treatment within this country."
She suggested that the fact Bahamians continue to frequent numbers houses in large numbers could be taken by the Government as a sign that it is time to legalise the activity.
"Peaceful, forceful civil disobedience is often the people's way of bringing home a message to government about the need to change discriminatory laws and policies, and the continued, indeed growing presence of web cafes across our landscape should be understood as a serious message to government about the need to adopt a new policy direction as regards gaming for Bahamians," said the former minister.
March 15, 2010
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
A FORMER FNM minister and MP has lashed out at the Government and police, accusing them of "terrorising peaceful citizens" as they continue to enforce anti-gambling laws.
Theresa Moxey-Ingraham yesterday described the use of "valuable police resources" to raid web shops where members of the public are "engaging in peaceful and personal activity within the precincts of a licensed business establishment" as a "travesty".
"In a time when crime is rampant, known criminals are on the loose and traffic violations are the order of the day, there is so much of greater value for our Police to pay attention to," said the ex-cabinet minister.
Mrs Moxey-Ingraham made her comments yesterday in a letter to The Tribune, written in her capacity as a member of the Bahamas Gaming Reform Committee. The BGRC wants to see a relaxation of the Bahamas' anti-gaming laws to allow Bahamians and Bahamas residents to gamble.
It claims the laws prohibiting them from doing so, while visitors can at will, are discriminatory and are causing The Bahamas to lose its competitive touristic standing in the region, among other things.
Referring to the enforcement of the laws, which the BGRC consider outdated, Mrs Moxey-Ingraham, who served as MP for Golden Gates from 1992 to 2002 and held numerous ministerial portfolios under the former Ingraham administration, said the "time has long come and gone for this nonsense to stop".
Her comments come in the wake of recent raids on web shops in New Providence, in which a number of customers and employees were taken into custody, and cash was seized by police.
At the time of one of those raids - that of the Collins Avenue location of the Island Luck web cafe on Tuesday March 9 - a number of officers admitted to The Tribune that they saw "no sense" in what they were doing as the numbers house would in all likelihood be open for business again in 24 hours - along with the countless others throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Mrs Moxey-Ingraham said: "Government should not be in the business of making criminals and fugitives out of its citizens, especially over matters such as gaming which can be classified as a 'victimless' activity.
"Our citizens and residents ought to enjoy the same recreational privileges as visitors to these shores, and they have shown by their quiet persistence and their determination that despite feeble attempts by government and the Police to stop them, they fully intend to take ownership of their inherent right to equal treatment within this country."
She suggested that the fact Bahamians continue to frequent numbers houses in large numbers could be taken by the Government as a sign that it is time to legalise the activity.
"Peaceful, forceful civil disobedience is often the people's way of bringing home a message to government about the need to change discriminatory laws and policies, and the continued, indeed growing presence of web cafes across our landscape should be understood as a serious message to government about the need to adopt a new policy direction as regards gaming for Bahamians," said the former minister.
March 15, 2010
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