I support a national lottery, web shop gaming and casino gambling for all and sundry... ...The upcoming January 28, 2013 referendum is shamelessly flawed in the absence of the casino gambling question...

By Dennis Dames



As I listen to the various perspectives on the January 28, 2013 referendum questions, a few thoughts continue to come to mind.  The first one is: it appears to be all about satisfying web shop owners.  The next is: the lottery question looks to be a smoke screen, or a get out the vote tactic to ensure that the web shop question successfully receives the desired YES votes result at the end of the day.  The last is: The casino gambling question for natives is noticeably absent from the proposed ballot.

The latter thought is where the beef exists for me.  It is black Bahamians telling the electorate that Bahamians are not cultured enough to gamble among tourists.  They say that we do not know how to behave, and all we would do is harass the other guests.  How insulting and wicked our black leadership – after forty years of independence could be?

How could the black leadership in The Bahamas today continue to discriminate against the masses?  It is unconstitutional to provide casino gambling in The Bahamas for visitors and not Bahamians.  It would have been a golden opportunity to resolve this matter once and for all on January 28, 2013 – when the number kingpins hope to get their prize.

I support a national lottery, web shop gaming and casino gambling for all and sundry.  The upcoming referendum is shamelessly flawed in the absence of the casino gambling question – in my view.

With this in mind, this voter is not motivated to go to the polls on referendum day – January 28, 2013 - to make Flowers and company happy; and leave discrimination in place in regards to the casino gambling question for the Bahamian masses, who are primarily black people.

Caribbean Blog International

If there is to be a gambling referendum, it should address the big three: ...casino gambling, a national lottery and online gambling/web shops

Is The Gambling Referendum Worth The Time?

By NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Features Editor

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

THE upcoming referendum is really yucking up my vexation. I join the chorus of Bahamians encouraging the government to put a proper referendum forward; one that is worth suffering the inconvenience of going out to vote. There is no shame in doing the right thing.

My concerns, however, do not echo some of the popular discourse. I for one believe some of the complaints represent plain ole “bad mind”: grudgfulness and hypocrisy. And I have no intention of perpetuating that.

If the government is going to put a question to the Bahamian people by way of a referendum, it has a responsibility to educate the Bahamian people about the question and the premises upon which it is based. It is completely inadequate for the government to say it is staying out of the fray. Gambling in the Bahamas is a complex issue and an uninformed public serves no one.

My first point explores the issue of web shops. There is a major point that seems to be eluding the government and many observers; Web shops in the Bahamas are licensed businesses. They are not illegal operations, even though they function within grey confines of the law.

Bahamians tend to make generalised statements about gambling being illegal. However, there is a big difference between something that is illegal (meaning, something that contravenes the regulations set out in a particular statue) and something that is simply unregulated. In reality, much of what web shops now do is not illegal: They are simply not regulated.

Those distinctions may seem meaningless as Bahamians discuss the matter over the airwaves. However, they are very real in the face of the law. The legal experts employed by web shops are well aware of this, and they use it to their advantage. Let us not forget, the attorney for one of the web shops was a former member of parliament.

These businesses are not fly by night operations. They are run by astute businessmen with sharp attorneys. To date I am not aware of any successful legal challenge which resulted in a web shop license being revoked or a web shop being closed. To the contrary, web shops continue to grow and expand.

I am no legal expert, but it is obvious that loopholes in the law have enabled web shops. The real crime is not the business acumen and legal prowess of gambling bosses, it is the shortsightedness and perhaps ineptness of subsequent governments in failing to get ahead of the industry, which is surprising considering the House of Assembly is riddled with lawyers.

On this point there has been zero accountability, and it has left the Bahamian public confused and uninformed about the issues. The Free National Movement (FNM) is grasping at straws to criticize the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) led government, but neither party has clean hands.

Government regulations have simply not kept pace with the evolution of the numbers business. The failures have created grey areas in the law that makes it near impossible to regulate the industry or prosecute its players. This is particularly true as it relates to the wire transmission of wagering information (online gambling).

Bahamians are still applying an old school way of thinking about numbers to an industry that has made quantum shifts. Long gone are the dice and paper days when underground gaming houses actually pulled numbers. The business model has changed.

Technology – specifically the advent of online gaming – has given gambling bosses the ultimate opportunity to step out of the shadows onto the frontlines having no regard for the Lotteries and Gaming Act.

Web shops are some of the most technologically advanced businesses in the Bahamas. They have invested millions in technology. They purchase world class software from the same providers who supply banks and other companies in the financial services industry. They use sophisticated systems that are elusive. The laws or law makers simply did not anticipate this sort of development.

A consumer can setup a charge account with a web shop and from the comfort of their own home gamble online. Without unjustifiable invasions of privacy on the part of the government, such a practice is impossible to prohibit.

A web shop can set up a computer lab and provide Internet access to its consumers and free itself of responsibility as to what its customers do online: write a business proposal, read soap opera news or gamble online.

Online gaming has become so popular with women that they now comprise the largest share of web shop customers, according to inside sources.

It has created a completely new and extremely profitable revenue stream for web shops.

The laws that govern the gaming industry are highly technical. When online gaming exploded, it made international regulators dizzy. Online gambling houses were able to exploit a host of loopholes and grey laws.

There is still a raging global debate about how and if to regulate or prohibit online gambling. Bahamian regulators are far behind on the learning curve.

Last week, Gaming Board Chairman Andre Rollins questioned the legality of bets being waged using lotteries from in the United States. He said the government would have to look into the practice if the referendum were to pass. This investigation should not take much time.

According to industry insiders, it is perfectly legal to use publicly broadcast US lottery numbers in the way they are currently being used locally. A Bahamian, who wages a bet on the Miami lotto, for example, is not buying into the Miami lottery. They are on betting they can guess the outcome of the Miami lottery. Third parties are not permitted to use the logos, slogans or trademarks of the originating lottery. The results, however, are public knowledge, and third parties are free to use these numbers how they see fit.

International sports bookies do a similar thing when they establish bets on various national sports associations, such as the National Basketball Association (NBA). International bookies cannot use NBA trademarks, but they do not need permission from the NBA to establish a bet around which team might win any particular game.

How does this relate to the referendum? For one, it complicates the matter highly, because the Prime Minister has said, should the people vote no, he will enforce the law and shut down web shops. That sounds good, but a government cannot arbitrarily shut down a business or revoke a business license. The business has to have committed an actionable offence. If the legal experts can effectively argue that existing statutes do not regulate the activities they engage in, then the government would have no legal basis to shut down web shops. They would have to enact new laws before they could touch the web shops.

Web shops are not going to roll over and disappear. They are going to fight. I do not say this having some special insider information. It is only logical. It is a million dollar business and the industry’s financiers are heavily invested. Alternatively they will return to the shadows or take their business outside the country.

Understanding all of this, I maintained the view from before the general election that a referendum on web shops made no sense. It was an unwise populist promise. I still hold this view. Anyone with eyes to see knows well that gambling is by and large embraced by Bahamians.

There are as many web shops in the Bahamas as there are churches and liquor stores. Perhaps the Bahamas Christian Council is jealous.

I heard Mario Moxey of the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) making asinine arguments on the radio the other day about morality and gambling. Morality is irrelevant to the public policy question at hand.

I am not questioning the BCC’s right to spiritually advise its believers about the immorality of gambling. Christians have a right to hold the view that gambling is a sin. I do not believe they have the right to impose that view on others, or to insist public policy reflect that view. But I understand the church is desperately trying to be relevant.

Walk through the doors of a web shop on any given day at any given time: There will be people standing on line or sitting in front of the computers who do not agree with the BCC’s perspective. They do not see gambling as wrong. And it is their right to feel that way.

Gambling may very well be immoral within the Christian worldview, but is that really a basis on which the government should use public policy to prohibit all Bahamians. Is there a valid case that can be made against gambling that should not also apply to alcohol or tobacco consumption? Clearly not.

The government needs no permission to eliminate the grey areas which have enabled web shops to thrive. And the law as it stands empowers the government to grant exemptions for specific types of gambling, whether a church raffle or an internet gaming shop. It is largely because of the vocal opposition of the church and its political implications that the government has not and would not act. The PLP gambled that a referendum would provide the cover to act, one way or the other.

The government has tangled itself in a real web. Should the people vote no, the government will have an even bigger mess on its hands and the potential political fallout will be far worse that what currently exists.

The tide seems to be turning against the government and not for any reasons relating to how Bahamians actually feel about web shops or gambling. The perceived backtracking on the national lottery election promise and the lack of transparency around the government’s foreign consultants is pissing the public off. It has raised suspicion of kickbacks. The public seems ready to vote no, just to spite the government. If that happens, the referendum will have caused much more problems than it is worth: unnecessary problems at that.

I am undecided about going to cast my vote in the referendum; I feel it will be a waste of my time. The referendum addresses nothing of substance and there are no stakes in it for me. I am not a gambling enthusiast, although I have patronized web shops before. So I would suffer no great loss should web shops be closed down, but I would also take no offence if they remained open. So why should I go vote?

Casino Gambling

I would go out and vote for a constitutional worthy gambling question.

The government currently upholds a policy which allows non-Bahamians to gamble inside the Bahamas, while prohibiting Bahamians from being able to do so. Is such a policy discriminatory and/or unconstitutional and should it be upheld? These issues are referendum worthy.

The current casino policy is clearly discriminatory. It was instituted during a time when Bahamians were seen as irresponsible and incapable of handling the freedom to gamble. It was enacted by the government under pressure by the church lobby pedaling the same social mayhem theory as today. It was objectionable then and it is objectionable now.

There is no way a foreigner should have the right to engage in any activity in my country that I have no right to participate in. For me, there is no other argument.

A layman’s reading of the constitution, specifically Article 26, which deals with how the constitution defines discrimination, suggests that the existing casino policy is not unconstitutional. It seems the crafters of the constitution fashioned a specific clause (26.4e) to satisfy the church and casino lobby. (Thanks to Dr Ian Strachan for opening up the discussion on this issue).

The clause prohibits discrimination except where the law makes provision for “authorizing the granting of licenses or certificates permitting the conduct of a lottery, the keeping of a gaming house or the carrying on of gambling in any of its forms subject to conditions which impose upon persons who are citizens of The Bahamas disabilities or restriction to which other persons are not made subject.”

In essence, it seems the discriminatory practice existed prior to the drafting of the constitution, and this clause was included in the constitution to secure the status quo and to protect against any legal challenge to the establishment.

The clause does not, however, obligate or compel the government to support the policy, which quite clearly discriminates against Bahamians. It only provides legal cover to the government if it chooses to support such a policy.

Should the government support a policy that discriminates against Bahamians gambling in casinos? No. If the government wished to have a referendum to affirm the will of the people on this particular issue, it would certainly be a vote worth casting. Why? Because it affirms a basic yet fundamental principle of freedom and sovereignty.

The government would show real leadership by putting this question to rest.

If Bahamians had more access to gambling opportunities there are obviously risks, but the social mayhem theory being pedaled is a fantasy. The gaming industry should not be a free for all. There should be government regulation and protections put in place to address the social concerns. But history has shown the futility of prohibition and wisdom compels us to err on the side of freedom of choice.

I will discuss the national lottery issue in detail next time. For now, I will say the government’s actions have raised serious questions about transparency and due process. It makes no sense to start the argument with questionable evidence that concludes a national lottery is not feasible. A referendum is needed to establish the will of the people. If the Bahamian people desire a national lottery, then the government should undergo a rigorous and transparent process to create one. It has been done before in comparable jurisdictions and unless we are inept a national lottery can apply here.

There is obvious interest in a national lottery and the government’s actions fly in the face of the public. As I understand it, there may be a new announcement coming as early as today addressing the government’s position on this.

I will end where I started: There is no shame in doing the right thing. If there is to be a referendum it should at least address questions worth suffering the inconvenience of going out to vote. If there is to be a referendum, it should address the big three: casino gambling, a national lottery and online gambling/web shops. The government has kicked the bucket down the road for too long. Let us not waste anymore time.

November 12, 2012

Tribune242 

Caribbean Blog International

The Gambling Referendum Debate: ...Ed Fields - Kerzner International senior vice president says that he agrees with Baha Mar vice president - Robert Sands on casino gambling for Bahamians should not be rushed... ...the focus should be on liberalising the “numbers business” first

'Numbers First, Before Casinos'


By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Staff Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIANS should focus on liberalising the “numbers business” first before attempting to addressing the issue of casino gambling, according to Ed Fields, Kerzner International senior vice president.

While he noted it was also an “overdue” issue, Mr Fields said he sided with Baha Mar vice president Robert Sands that casino gambling should not be rushed.

“We need to go down that road, whether we’re going down it two months from now or three months, we should be doing it.

“It should be a basic question on do you agree with liberalizing gambling for Bahamians,” he said. “Now once that question is answered then the powers that be can start examining what we should be doing (next). Let’s legalize it, let’s tax the heck out of it, let’s take some of those tax dollars and put it to helping people who might have an addiction, let’s take the money and put it into education and arts and culture.”

The contentious debate over whether or not the country should liberalize “web shop” gaming and establish a national lottery has stormed since it was announced that the longstanding issue would be put to a referendum before the end of the year.

There has also been criticism of the scope of the proposed referendum, with former prime minister Hubert Ingraham stating that the referendum should address gaming in its entirety.

The Bahamas Christian Council has accused the government of rushing a gambling referendum, while some local pastors have called for all gambling participation – including the participation of tourists in casinos – to be outlawed.

While he said he could not comment on the referendum’s timeline, Mr Fields said a resolution on the issue was “long overdue”.

“We took literally 50 years to get to where we are today with the institution of Bahamians not being allowed to gamble in casinos. We can’t just overnight change that paradigm without there being some ramifications. So I ‘m supportive of it but I think it’s something that we have to take one step at a time.”

“Liberalizing the numbers business,” he said, “is something we are doing now and so let’s get that off the plate and then we can have a discussion about casino gambling in terms of how you qualify to gamble.”

In response to claims that liberalisation would engender a rise in addiction and other social ills, Mr Fields said that taxes would provide funding for counselling and related help.

“Not everyone who gambles is addicted to gambling, it’s a small percentage like every other activity, sex, shopping, eating, not everyone is a kleptomaniac,” he said.

“Right now as I speak there is zero dollars that is being committed to counselling people who are addicted to gambling, so let’s just assume that there are a number of people who are addicted to gambling, well if we were taxing the numbers business or the gambling business then we could allocate a percentage of that to counselling and helping.

He added: “It cant be worse than what we have now.”

July 30, 2012

Tribune242

Caribbean Blog International

The Bahamas is not the only nation concerned about gambling

The pros and cons of gambling
tribune242 editorial:


A SEVERE crackdown by Chinese police on football betting during the World Cup match after an online gambling ring -- called the world's largest-- was broken up in Hong Kong in June, shows that the Bahamas is not the only nation concerned about gambling.

According to the Xinhua news agency more than $100 million Hong Kong dollars was confiscated in June and 70 people arrested in betting on the World Cup.

In July as the police crackdown intensified on organised criminal gangs more than 5,000 people were arrested.

Although the East is noted -- at least in the movies -- for its gambling dens, betting on football is illegal in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand because of its ties to the criminal underworld.

In a Financial Times article Jean-Michel Louboutin, Interpol's executive director of police services is quoted as saying: "As well as having clear connections to organised crime gangs, illegal soccer gambling is linked with corruption, money laundering and prostitution, and our operation will have a significant long-term impact on these serious offences as well."

In its July 10-16 edition, The Economist of London had an interesting feature on gambling and the pros and cons for legalising it.

It pointed out that trying to ban online gambling is doomed to failure because anyone with a computer can participate.

It concludes that although many dislike the idea of governments encouraging its citizens to gamble, a fine line can be drawn between encouragement and regulation. "Regulating something is not the same as encouraging it," the Economist argued.

"Better to treat gambling the same way as smoking: legalise it but make the casinos display the often-dismal odds of success (one in 176 million, if you hope to win America's richest lottery) in the same way the cigarette packets warn you about cancer.

"That would favour games of skill over the mindlessness of slot machines. People always will bet.

"Better that they do so in a legal market -- and know the form."

That was one opinion. We recall, while studying law in London, gambling was being discussed among the legal fraternity at the time.

A strong argument then was that it was best to bring it in from the cold and regulate it so that gambling debts could be settled in the courts rather than by criminals with knives drawn down a dark alley.

Those against gambling offered much the same argument as Archbishop Pinder and other churchmen in an attempt to protect citizens against their own destructive human weaknesses.

While the Catholic Church, said the Archbishop, recognizes that "gambling is not inherently evil there is the tendency of human nature to go to excess and to extremes.

"Thus what may be harmless in the beginning can, without proper restraints become quite harmful later on. The wisdom of the law as it now stands seems to understand this reality."

Many other countries in order to protect their citizens, either ban them from the casinos, or if allowed, charge them a heavy entrance fee.

A foreigner pays no fees. Mainland China, for example, keeps its casinos off island on Macau, where the visitor throws the dice, but access by its own citizens is strictly limited. A successful lottery is the only form of gambling on China's mainland.

Singapore welcomes the visitor to its casinos, but charges its own citizens $72. Many Asian governments remain wary of gambling and either ban its citizens, or make it difficult for them to have a little "flutter."

However, as governments need to raise taxes, the debate continues.

The Economist article is well worth reading, particularly as this is a debate that Bahamians will be entering into after the 2012 election.

It gives a balanced view of both sides of the argument.

July 22, 2010

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Kenyatta Gibson tells the Carlton Francis' anti-gambling beliefs story

Gibson tells the Carlton Francis story
tribune242 editorial:



DURING the Budget debate, Kennedy MP Kenyatta Gibson, in putting the case for legalising gambling, told the tragic story of the political churchman who sacrificed himself to support his church's anti-gambling beliefs.

The irony was that the church never assisted him or protested his fall. Instead it became a firm supporter of the very government that had condemned their brother. It was the government that had introduced the evil that Baptists claimed they abhorred. Baptist churchmen took the position that neither they, nor their members, would ever support a government that depended on gambling as a source of national income.

Mr Gibson was, of course, referring to the late Carlton Francis, once Minister of Finance in the Pindling government, who was also a lay preacher in the Baptist church. Although Mr Gibson did not name the denomination to which he referred, he was talking of the Baptists. Because of the large vote the church controls at election time, all governments have been loath to take them on over one of the strictest tenants of their faith. Gambling is a capital sin which the church claims it will not tolerate, nor permit the indulgence of its members.

We recall the election of '67 when the PLP came to power for the first time. Just days before Bahamians were to go to the polls, the PLP sent in a release for publication. If the UBP were returned to power, it said, it would mean the extension of casino gambling. This was not true. As a matter of fact it was an unfair lie, because Sir Roland Symonette, this country's first premier, who was a staunch Methodist, was personally opposed to gambling. No such plan was on his party's agenda.

However, it spooked the Baptist community and, of course, churchmen stepped up their political opposition. There was hardly time to deny the story because Bahamians were getting ready to go to the polls. It was only with a PLP government, said the release, that Bahamians could be assured that gambling would be kept out of this country.

The PLP, of course, won the day, but it was not long afterwards that casino gambling was introduced and flourished in the Bahamas. And it was only six years after the PLP came to power that Mr Francis was put in the awkward position of having to choose between his government and his conscience. The issue was gambling. Here the politician had to give way to the conscience of the Baptist preacher. He voted against his government on the gambling issue and in 1973 had to resign from the Pindling cabinet.

That was bad enough, but a vindictive prime minister never forgave him his mortal sin. Thrown on the political trash heap, Mr Francis was hounded from pillar to post. A respected teacher before he entered politics, he could not get a job at the College of the Bahamas. As a matter of fact, he found it difficult after that to make a living.

As he crossed the street at one of Sir Lynden's political meetings, the "Chief" looked down from his lofty dais, spotted his former finance minister and sneered that there went Carlton Francis, but all he could see was a three-piece suit. It was true, Mr Francis then dying of cancer, was a shell of his former self and all one could see was a baggy suit. The crowd jeered. It was cruel.

But where was his church, which had declared that it would never support a government that got its revenue from gambling? Mr Gibson said that in his research, he could not find that Mr Francis' church came to his support when, having been abandoned by his party, he decided to run for parliament from the South Beach constituency. Of course, with his party against him and no help from his church, he lost the contest.

Mr Gibson said that "the record will show that they abandoned him and quickly realigned themselves with the same political party which he had abandoned on their behalf."

And, said Mr Gibson, "to complicate this issue many leading Churchmen of the day then accepted positions of significance from the same political party which had expanded casino gambling. These princes and princesses now piously sat as secretary generals and parliamentarians in the political organization which had ushered in the very same expansion, which they previously had vociferously argued against...

"And so the question begs an answer," said Mr Gibson, "what did they do for the Prince of their Church, Carlton Elisha Francis who sided with his Church on the gambling issue and gave up his cabinet portfolio? Absolutely nothing. The man could not even get the pastorship of a recognizable Church in this denomination."

Mr Gibson revived this bit of history to advise Bahamians to hold their own counsel in what they believed was best for them and their families and not be guided by special interest groups.

In the debate on whether gambling -- the numbers game -- should be made legal, he said the "people have the inalienable right to choose for themselves."

Mr Gibson ended his presentation in the House with a quote from Mr Francis: "They who stand on the sand banks of history trying to hold back the tide will be swept up in the flood gates of insurrection."

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Fort Charlotte MP Alfred Sears and Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell both agree that the Government should Legalize Gambling for Bahamians

Mitchell, Sears say govt should legalize gambling
By KRYSTEL ROLLE ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ krystel@nasguard.com:



The government ought to find the "courage and conviction" to legalize gambling in the country, according to two opposition MPs, who recently voiced their support for such a move.

Fort Charlotte MP Alfred Sears and Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell both agree that the Ingraham administration should immediately legalize some form of gambling for Bahamians.

Their announced support of gambling came more than a week after the Cabinet Office announced that the government will not proceed with the legalization of gambling. The government has instead concluded that a referendum should be held after the next general election so Bahamians can have the final say on the divisive issue.

However, Mitchell said he believes something should be done now.

"[Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham] is unable to exercise the courage of his conviction in the area of legalizing gambling in this country," said Mitchell in the House of Assembly during debate on the proposed new budget last Thursday. "I support the change in the law which will legalize gambling to all Bahamians without any discrimination whatsoever and the regulation of the gaming that's presently going on."

He added: "I need go no further than to say that the two religious leaders who last spoke on this issue, both the Roman Catholic and the Anglican, saw no intrinsic moral evil in gambling and so therefore the case against it in my view rests and the government should without delay move to allow Bahamians of adult age to exercise their specific choice of entertainment or investment if that is their desire. I do not gamble."

Sears said instead of opposing gambling, the churches should teach their members discipline.

"I heard the prime minister talking about taking away the concessions from persons under the Industries Encouragement Act (IEA)," Sears said as he made his contribution to the budget debate last week.

The prime minister announced last week that those businesses which have benefited from tax concessions for five years or more would have to pay 10 percent stamp tax duty on imports starting July 1.

Sears added that he would like Ingraham "to be just as biggety and just as bold" with the people affected by the IEA as he is with Atlantis.

"Concessions should be to attract," he said. "But we are still giving [them] away. You are taking [concessions] away from Bahamians, but yet Atlantis is getting $4 million cash and they're getting it to promote casino gambling. So you mean to tell me that my tax money is being given to Atlantis to promote casino gambling? And let me disclose right now that I support [it]. I represent Mr. Craig Flowers and I personally support the legalization of local gaming in The Bahamas."

Flowers was charged in a magistrates court several months ago with allowing his business to be used to conduct a lottery. The case is ongoing.

Sears said Bahamians will continue to gamble, if not in The Bahamas, elsewhere.

"You cannot have Bahamians going to Miami to buy lotto and my tax money is being spent to attract people here to gamble," he continued. "And my cousin and the church members are working in the casino. And the churches are going to Atlantis and asking them to let them have their functions in Atlantis and walking through the casino. Mr. Speaker, we must learn to make the tough decisions about public policy and not pander to special interests. Is it in the interest of The Bahamas?"

Ingraham told The Nassau Guardian recently that investigations had determined that the government could have brought in substantial revenues annually from the legalization of the numbers business.

"Quite candidly, I had hoped that we would have legalized the numbers business," Ingraham said.

"I'd hoped that we would have collected between $30 million and $40 million annually in revenue from the gambling business. Our investigations revealed that that's the kind of revenue we would have gotten as taxes.

"And I was hoping that we would not have to impose taxes on the Bahamian people, at least not to that extent, but that is not to be. So we have to get the money anyhow to provide the services that we have to provide to the population of The Bahamas."

The Cabinet Office statement said the government made the decision not to proceed with the legalization of gambling "after consultation with a wide range of community leaders and other citizens, including leaders of the church."


June 7, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International

Gaming advocates want full gambling reform

By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net:


GAMING advocates are applauding the government for its decision to consider legalising the popular Bahamian pastime of playing "numbers".

However, some are of the opinion that government should go even further and reform the Gaming and Lotteries Act to also legalise casino gambling for all Bahamians.

"I think legalising the numbers game is a step in the right direction of course, but it is just one step. As an international person myself I have a lot of friends and guests who come here and go to the casino. It is embarrassing as a law abiding citizen to have to walk through the casino with my hands in my pockets," said Lincoln Bain, equal rights advocate, media personality and entrepreneur.

Mr Bain said the Bahamian public should not be fooled into thinking a referendum is needed to decide this matter.

He said Section 67J of the Lotteries and Gaming Act, which states that the minister responsible has the power to "make regulations regulating and restricting the admission of persons on premises licensed under this Act", is proof of this.

"The minister can wake up and say Bahamians can gamble. Only people making $50,000 per year can gamble; only Bahamians who have never been bankrupt, or Bahamians who have not been diagnosed with a gambling problem. He can also blacklist persons who are deemed unfit," said Mr Bain.

Last week the Free National Movement said the its council and parliamentarians favoured legalising gambling as it would bring major financial benefits to the government.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the government was consulting on the matter, although no final decision has been made.

Local advocates, like the Bahamas Gaming Reform (BGR) agree. In a press statement, the committee noted the new regulations could generate thousands of jobs and millions in incremental revenue for the government.

"In spite of the heavy sighs of relief from many quarters of the country, anything short of complete reform (permitting Bahamians to be stakeholders and players in our casino) will be an affront to Bahamians and only deepen the social divide as foreigners will again be afforded more privileges in this country," said Sidney Strachan, BGR spokesperson.

"With any progress there is going to be adverse affects. Hotel developments have a negative side. Progress always brings that. I am waiting on someone to show me any other country in the world where the entire moral fabric of the country was broken down or where there has been less productivity as a result of gambling. I am not sure where those people are getting their data from," said Mr Strachan.

The GBR has not been granted an audience with the prime minister, although representatives said they have spoken to Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the minister responsible for gaming.

While the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) supports the concept of a national lottery and the legalisation of the numbers business, it is maintaining its opposition to total access to casinos for Bahamians.

"The BHA believes that gambling can and should be supported and expanded. We have presented a variety of positions to the competent authorities in government on gambling.

"The primary areas would have a direct incremental impact on the competitiveness of our business and allow access to new games and items present in international markets," said Robert Sands, BHA president.

Some of the recommendations made by the BHA relate to the Gaming Board's approval processes and initiatives to allow junket representatives, entertainers, and permanent residents with a certain level of net worth to gamble.

Mr Bain said there should be one moral standard for gambling. He said if the churches believe gambling is wrong they "should be in front of the casinos picketing".

"There should not be a law that allows some people to gamble but not all. There would not be a law to allow tourists to smoke marijuana and prohibit Bahamians, or for tourists to run the red light and not Bahamians. The whole law is ludicrous and reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s segregation area," said Mr Bain.

April 21, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Committee looking at gambling for legal residents

By Keva Ligtbourne ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ kdl@nasguard.com:



The committee formed to comprehensively examine the country's gaming laws may be leaning toward recommending that legal residents be allowed to gamble in The Bahamas, according to Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace.

"In particular there is a group of people who are in The Bahamas whose income does not derive from The Bahamas, but they are residents in The Bahamas without the right to work," he said.

"In very many respects they resemble a visitor. So they are now prohibited under section 50 of the Lotteries and Gaming Act from engaging in gaming in The Bahamas. So that is something that we are taking a look at the possibility of enabling those persons to be considered, but that is not a final decision. A great deal of thought is still going into all of the amendments we have to make."

Bahamian citizens and permanent residents are prohibited from gambling under the current law. However, tourists are allowed to gamble.

Last year, Bahamas Hotel Association President Robert Sands said the BHA supported a national lottery and the amendment of the gaming laws to allow permanent residents to gamble in casinos in The Bahamas.

However, the BHA does not support extending casino gambling to Bahamians.

For years, the debate over whether Bahamians should be allowed to gamble in The Bahamas has been a hot topic across the country. There are those like the religious leaders who are adamantly opposed to the idea. Many of them believe it would contribute to the breakdown of families and the society.

Then there are others who say legalizing gambling in The Bahamas for Bahamians would help fund sporting activities, culture events and education, etc.

Over the years, successive governments have been reluctant to address the issue.

Vanderpool-Wallace insisted that the committee has not considered or made any suggestion or recommendation with regard to allowing Bahamians to gamble legally.

As the committee considers what laws should be relaxed as it regards gaming in The Bahamas, a group called Bahamas Gaming Reform continues to push to end what it says is discrimination.

The group's chairman Sidney Strachan, said: "In response to numerous calls and speculation that the government may be in the process of initiating changes to the current gaming laws, Bahamas Gaming Reform (BGR) applauds any move by the government to reform the country's [archaic] gaming laws. However, BGR stresses that it must be done right and not stop short of ending the blatant discrimination against Bahamian residents."

He said Bahamians are excitedly hoping that what has long been a national pass time — the numbers game -— may finally become legal.

"Bahamians will no longer feel threatened, terrified or harassed while harmlessly queuing up at local web cafes," Strachan said.

"In spite of the heavy sighs of relief from many quarters of the country, anything short of complete reform (permitting Bahamians to be stakeholders and players in our casinos) will be an affront to Bahamians and only deepen the social divide as foreigners will again be afforded more privileges in this country."


April 07, 2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International