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Bahamas Govt. Intervention Necessary to Protect ‘Gambling Addicts’
By Bahamas Information Services (BIS)
Sep 12, 2014 - 6:29:36 PM

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Bahamas will not result in a significant rise in the number of gamblers in the country, but would rather allow the Government to “prescribe the rules for the games and to secure funds from taxes to help deal with the social ills that derive from its abuse,” Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Renewal the Hon. Philip E. “Brave” Davis told Parliament.

Mr. Davis said Government intervention would also help to “protect the country’s gambling addicts” and further allow the Government to fund programmes that can have a positive impact on the country’s youth, such as community centres and sports and education facilities.

“Whomever wants to gamble is doing so right now,” Mr. Davis said. “Anyone can walk into a web shop and place a bet.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said ‘gambling addicts’ are prone to reckless self-destruction. Government intervention, he said, is necessary to protect them.

“Currently, there is no process to hold the salesmen accountable,” Mr. Davis said. The Deputy Prime Minister said while there are prohibitions on the sale of alcohol or tobacco to people under a certain age and protocols in place that say children cannot enter bars or nightclubs, there are no such prohibitions when it comes to gambling.

“I am told that children use lunch money to buy numbers. Certainly, the regularization will prevent this atrocity. Government intervention will also help to protect the vulnerable, the reckless and the self-destructive with regulation, while also providing an avenue for the taxation of the industry and permit those with self-control the entertainment option of gambling.

“The Leader of the Official Opposition and Member for Killarney has gone on record to label the Gaming Bill as a ‘charter for law breakers and the select few.’ As I read, I wondered, ‘who are these people? Who are the select few?

“Surely, the Member refers to the same ‘Sunday morning’ crowd that gather at the gaming houses like a bank on a government payday? He must be referring to the thousands of families that benefit from employment in the industry. Surely, he must be talking about the thousands more who are registered, card-carrying participants in the industry, who purchase, spin, and win from the privacy of home.

“These ‘spinners’ are unaware of the dangers of the practice in an unregulated environment. We are told that this environment provides easy access to the confidential information of web users by fearless network hackers who access such user details including credit card information – fearless because they know that there is no legal recourse for their actions.

“Now, if he is referring to the existing web shop owners, does he think that the imposition of severe penalties gives them an unfair advantage? That is indeed a paradox if he is thinking that way.”

Deputy Prime Minister Davis said a democratic government exists to protect the people and their rights.

“We have an endemic challenge when it comes to gambling [and] Government is compelled to legalize, regulate, and tax web shops because it is virtually impossible to shut the industry down. They know negative consequences of continuing the status quo,” Mr. Davis added.


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