Gambling dilemma

Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite says our country is going to have to face head-on the issue of gambling, either putting systems in place to better regulate it or doing away with it altogether.

He was speaking on Friday afternoon at the Democratic Labour Party’s headquarters, as he delivered the weekly Astor B. Watts Lunchtime Lecture on the topic ‘Protecting Our Financial Borders’ during which he expressed concern about whether there is a regime in place that has the quality control to ensure that there is an acceptable win-loss ratio for the slot machines as well as the lottery games, including scratch cards.

“If you are concerned as is my concern with the whole issue of money laundering and terrorist financing… if we are serious, we must put a regime in place that forces these operators to know who their clients are. As it is, there is no such regime in place. There’s no such regime because we have not looked at the whole issue of gaming in its holistic sense and of course whenever you mention the issue of casino gambling, the Church in particular says ‘we have an issue, no,’” he noted.

However Brathwaite, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs, said there is a lot of hypocrisy in our society such that many Barbadians do not like to admit it, but there is a lot of gambling taking place in this country on a daily basis.

“There is gambling in Barbados almost every hour… There are machines in places that you don’t believe – in one-door shops, in two-door shops there are machines. All kinds of different machines – slot machines, video game-type with cars, etc. and then of course if you go into any gas station or any shop, there are more scratch cards than anything else. And worse of all, I do not believe that the regulators here know how much profit is made from those scratch cards and how many winnings go out,” he explained.

The AG added, “Either we have a gaming industry that is properly regulated, or we don’t have one at all.”

He made the point while contending that in terms of our risk profile in respect of money laundering and terrorist financing, without proper regulation the industry’s anti-money laundering, ter-rorism and know your client deficiencies will be flagged. Brathwaite’s comments came as he alluded to the need for the gaming industry to also have provisions in place to deal with gambling addiction.

“I am sure many of us would have heard stories of women, especially on Friday afternoons, going down to Marhill Street and getting the money before the chap gambles out all, because if he goes into certain operations he is only left with bus fare. That is the kind of thing that a well-regulated industry can prevent,” the AG maintained. (JRT)