By Jimenita Swain ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ jimenita@nasguard.com:
A Nassau Guardian team walked the streets yesterday and asked a number of Bahamians whether gambling should be legalized.
The question comes on the heels of comments yesterday by Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham that he has already consulted several groups on the matter, including the Free National Movement's Central Council and members of his parliamentary team. He further noted that he informed Opposition Leader Perry Christie and Bain and Grants Town Member of Parliament Dr. Bernard Nottage that the government is considering the matter.
Many Bahamians expressed mixed views yesterday to The Nassau Guardian on the issue.
"The Bible speaks against gambling and I don't think we should do it," said street vendor Lynn Barr.
The 47-year-old said, "We call our nation a Christian nation, so we [have] to live up to that standard. [We've] got to trust God for all things."
"I applied on behalf of the Olympic Association for the legalization of a lottery for the purpose of helping sports and other social things," said Sir Arlington Butler, immediate past president of the Bahamas Olympic Association.
That application he explained was many years ago.
" There was some concern about the Christian Council, but I canvassed the Christian Council and I didn't find the concern the government was expressing. And they have for years been putting the Christian Council as the bogey man, but I think it was because of a lack of imagination, a lack of concern. I know that some of the churches really believe that there ought not to be gambling. I know the Methodists have been on record as saying so and there are some others."
He added that the former Archbishop of the West Indies and Bishop of The Bahamas Drexel Gomez was also against gambling.
"When you measure all of the arguments against it and those for it, I believe there is a definite possibility that it should be allowed for the benefit of the Bahamian people," he said.
Sir Arlington said in 1972 the Olympic Association raffled a house for $5 a ticket and the association has never been in the red since.
He said the legislation of gambling is long overdue.
"The unfortunate point is that we encourage it to be illegal. We encourage corruption. We encourage the development of an individual or individuals and not the development of the society. I don't know if any major things went wrong in Florida, because they had [a] lottery."
Symphony Sands, a beauty consultant said, "Honestly whether gambling is legal or illegal it doesn't matter because everyone is doing it anyway. You see police officers talking about numbers, what fall today, what [didn't] fall today, so they might as well make it legal so no one goes to jail for it [because] they're doing it anyway."
Chief of Security for Solomon Mines Carson Hepburn said, "I think gambling should be legalized. If you really look at it right now, as it is today, gambling in this country, the police knows every gambling house in this country. They know everybody is gambling, but they know it is not legal also, but [there's] nothing they can do about it. I don't see why it shouldn't be legal."
Straw market vendor Margaret Curry said, "I think gambling should not be legalized. It's a bad habit and once you fall into that habit it's an endless tunnel where you get into (it) and you never return. You get poor, broke, desperate and your children eat nothing. Gambling is a disease. Gambling is a demonic curse."
Curry compared gambling to a person who has an alcohol addition.
Fifty-one-year-old Larry Austin, another vendor in the straw market, said he also did not think gambling should be legalized.
"I don't think its a good thing. If you look at the Bible... they [gambled] for Jesus' robe and I don't think that was nice. Gambling keeps you in poverty, anybody who gambles ends up in poverty because you lose," said Austin.
He added, "You can never win once you gamble. Gambling is not a good thing because it is addictive."
Jewelry store clerk Nadia Bethel said, "I believe gambling should be legalized if the country is going to allow casinos to be here on the island. If we say we're a Christian nation and we don't want our Bahamians gambling then therefore we should not let any human beings gamble."
She added, "Visitors gamble because we have casinos legalized here in The Bahamas."
April 14, 2010
thenassauguardian
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 legalised gaming Bahamas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legalised gaming Bahamas. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Another former senior FNM favours legalised gambling
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
ANOTHER former senior FNM has come out in favour of the legalisation of gambling, amid speculation that the Government may be preparing to liberalise gaming laws in the Bahamas in the coming legislative session.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson, who was recently honoured by the government when the new road bordering the Albany resort was named after him, said police are "wasting their time and resources running after" those who conduct and participate in lotteries in the Bahamas and it is "time for us to face the music."
"We waste the police's precious time trying to lock up and seemingly never to get a conviction so why not legalise it? We need to get it behind us. If I don't want to gamble I don't have to gamble no one is forcing you (if it is legalised)."
"The reality is there is a block of churches that oppose gaming being legalised, but the police can do nothing about it as it goes on illegally.
"Police continue to waste time running behind numbers people and all they're doing is taking the focus off crime in my view," said the former parliamentarian and current chairman of the Nassau Airport Development Company.
His comments come as speculation remains high that the Government, which has been urged by numerous stakeholders to reform gaming laws in the Bahamas, may announce in the Speech from the Throne, which will outline the Government's next legislative agenda upon the opening of the new session of Parliament on April 14, that it intends to liberalise gambling laws in The Bahamas.
Such speculation has been bolstered by reports that the question of whether gambling laws should be reformed was recently put to the FNM Council for a vote by party leader and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
Speaking with The Tribune, Mr Watson said he was not sure if this did indeed happen but "understands that this may have been so."
Meanwhile, when asked yesterday if the council did vote on the issue of liberalisation, FNM party chairman Carl Bethel admitted that gambling law reform is indeed "a question that's being discussed internally in the Free National Movement."
However, Bahamas Hotel Association President Robert Sands, who was part of the group that presented a proposal to the Government last year calling for a reform of the Bahamas' gaming laws -- in his group's case, the proposal specifically related to who can gamble in casinos in The Bahamas and what kinds of games are permitted in those tourist establishments, rather than the legalisation of numbers houses -- told Tribune Business last week that he had not heard anything officially on the matter. FML CEO Craig Flowers said the same.
Mr Watson told The Tribune he feels that other than those churches who oppose gambling on religious grounds, most Bahamians are either "ambivalent about or participate in" illegal gambling.
He added that if it were legalised, expanded gambling could be a major revenue-raising measure for the Government.
"The money raised could be used to implement programmes dealing with anti-social behaviour or to put on after school classes or day care. Parents are having difficulty managing their jobs and their children," he suggested.
Nonetheless, the ex-parliamentarian admitted the move would be one that a government would have to "think through carefully and be prepared to take the consequences" of.
Former FNM Cabinet Minister Theresa Moxey came under fire several weeks ago after she described police raids on numbers houses as equivalent to officers "terrorising peaceful citizens." She suggested the law that allows non-Bahamians and non-Bahamian residents to gamble while denying those categories of people the same right is "discriminatory."
A Group of Evangelical Pastors -- Cedric Moss, Allan Lee, Lyall Bethel and Alfred Stuart -- called Mrs Moxey-Ingraham's comments "irresponsible" and urged the Government to strengthen anti-gambling laws and their enforcement to "rid our land of these illegal numbers houses."
April 06, 2010
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
ANOTHER former senior FNM has come out in favour of the legalisation of gambling, amid speculation that the Government may be preparing to liberalise gaming laws in the Bahamas in the coming legislative session.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson, who was recently honoured by the government when the new road bordering the Albany resort was named after him, said police are "wasting their time and resources running after" those who conduct and participate in lotteries in the Bahamas and it is "time for us to face the music."
"We waste the police's precious time trying to lock up and seemingly never to get a conviction so why not legalise it? We need to get it behind us. If I don't want to gamble I don't have to gamble no one is forcing you (if it is legalised)."
"The reality is there is a block of churches that oppose gaming being legalised, but the police can do nothing about it as it goes on illegally.
"Police continue to waste time running behind numbers people and all they're doing is taking the focus off crime in my view," said the former parliamentarian and current chairman of the Nassau Airport Development Company.
His comments come as speculation remains high that the Government, which has been urged by numerous stakeholders to reform gaming laws in the Bahamas, may announce in the Speech from the Throne, which will outline the Government's next legislative agenda upon the opening of the new session of Parliament on April 14, that it intends to liberalise gambling laws in The Bahamas.
Such speculation has been bolstered by reports that the question of whether gambling laws should be reformed was recently put to the FNM Council for a vote by party leader and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
Speaking with The Tribune, Mr Watson said he was not sure if this did indeed happen but "understands that this may have been so."
Meanwhile, when asked yesterday if the council did vote on the issue of liberalisation, FNM party chairman Carl Bethel admitted that gambling law reform is indeed "a question that's being discussed internally in the Free National Movement."
However, Bahamas Hotel Association President Robert Sands, who was part of the group that presented a proposal to the Government last year calling for a reform of the Bahamas' gaming laws -- in his group's case, the proposal specifically related to who can gamble in casinos in The Bahamas and what kinds of games are permitted in those tourist establishments, rather than the legalisation of numbers houses -- told Tribune Business last week that he had not heard anything officially on the matter. FML CEO Craig Flowers said the same.
Mr Watson told The Tribune he feels that other than those churches who oppose gambling on religious grounds, most Bahamians are either "ambivalent about or participate in" illegal gambling.
He added that if it were legalised, expanded gambling could be a major revenue-raising measure for the Government.
"The money raised could be used to implement programmes dealing with anti-social behaviour or to put on after school classes or day care. Parents are having difficulty managing their jobs and their children," he suggested.
Nonetheless, the ex-parliamentarian admitted the move would be one that a government would have to "think through carefully and be prepared to take the consequences" of.
Former FNM Cabinet Minister Theresa Moxey came under fire several weeks ago after she described police raids on numbers houses as equivalent to officers "terrorising peaceful citizens." She suggested the law that allows non-Bahamians and non-Bahamian residents to gamble while denying those categories of people the same right is "discriminatory."
A Group of Evangelical Pastors -- Cedric Moss, Allan Lee, Lyall Bethel and Alfred Stuart -- called Mrs Moxey-Ingraham's comments "irresponsible" and urged the Government to strengthen anti-gambling laws and their enforcement to "rid our land of these illegal numbers houses."
April 06, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)