The Freeport News - The campaign to legalize gambling is gaining momentum as Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce President K. Peter Turnquest cites the benefits that move will provide not only to businesses, but consumers as well.

Legalizing the gambling industry would be the sensible thing to do, since the activity is occurring anyway, Turnquest said.

"We are all aware that this activity happens every day by significant numbers of Bahamians, so we're only fooling ourselves to say that if we legislate against it that it will not happen," he said.

"The reality is that number-houses exist, we all know where they are, we all know who is involved, whether the law wants to face that or not ... And so legalizing the process seems to me the sensible thing to do because at the very least, the government can benefit from whatever gaming tax that they would put on it."

Regularizing the industry would make it safer for those who engage in the practice, he added. Businesses and patrons of establishments currently running such operations will be able to "come out from the shadows" he said.

"Right now we're making criminals out of ordinary law-abiding citizens. It puts these people in legitimate businesses so that they don't have to go sneaking behind fronts and other facades to try and hide their revenues which they may now be inclined to put into our financial institutions which they may be able to invest in other businesses to help grow and stimulate our economy," he said.

Additionally, Turnquest said, it will provide some peace of mind for those involved in that industry.

"You've got the actual criminal element in terms of people having stores of cash. You have patrons who are actually committing a criminal act when they buy a number but you will also have protection for the patrons who would buy a number and their number house for whatever reason refuses to pay."

Turnquest said, he understands the moral issue as it relates to gambling, which is often raised by members of the religious community, but believes economic sensibilities should come first.

"I think that obviously the religious leaders have a view that is not to be discounted, however, I believe that their obligation should be to educate and inform their members of the pitfalls of participating in these kind of activities.

"But to say that by them making the stance that they are that it's somehow going to stop people from doing it, we've proven that that's not the case," he said.

"So they should concentrate on trying to save souls, trying to educate and inform their parishioners of the evils, if that's how they want to put it, of gambling, but by the same token, we all know that it is happening so let's face it head on and deal with it from a legal point of view."

The public debate has been recently fuelled after Prime Minister Ingraham said, there is widespread support within the Free National Move-ment's Parliamentary group for the legalization of gambling, although he made it clear that no final decision has been made on the controversial issue as yet.

Turnquest said he believes the matter should be dealt with "once and for all.

"I think it's past time that we deal with it one way or the other. Either we're going to do it and have it regularized where the people of The Bahamas benefit rather than just the few individuals who are daring enough to do it undercover or we're going to enforce the law and not turn a blind eye," he said.

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