Anglican Bishop Rev Laish Boyd speaks out against the 'Numbers business' in The Bahamas

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

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