Regardless of what questions appear on the January 28 poll on gaming in The Bahamas, one of the critical foundations to this issue is this – trust.
If you are in favor of legalising gaming for Bahamians through web shops and a national lottery (and I have previously stated my opinion that the national lottery will never materialise anyway because that is not a part of “the plan”), and you favor this based on the belief that since it is happening anyway, we might as well regulate it – fine.
The problem though is this – do you trust the current administration to regulate a multi-million dollar gaming industry? Do you trust them to do with the money what they say they will do? Do you trust them to protect the interests of the nation in this regard over protecting the interests of the numbers men? Settle yourself down and ask yourself these questions honestly, and honestly – without getting worked up over politics – answer these questions in your heart and mind, because these are very important questions if you are a responsible voter in The Bahamas.
If the answers to these questions in your heart of hearts is ‘no’ – then a ‘yes’ vote on your part would wind up betraying your foundational desire to have the industry properly regulated to protect the interests of The Bahamas, especially with respect to related matters such as the threat of money laundering through the industry, etc.
For my part, I believe that if any government is going to deal with this issue of gaming for Bahamians and is intent on it being made legal, it must be done absolutely properly, justly, responsibly and with full transparency. The present administration has aptly demonstrated already that it is wholly incapable of any of these things – especially where many millions of dollars is concerned.
I will not be voting yes to give the government the ability to do what I do not believe they will do. That is my choice and my considered view as an eligible voter who will be voting, God willing, on January 28.
As for trust in general – I trust in God; everyone else is under scrutiny. Today, the scrutiny falls to the government of the day – the Progressive Liberal Party – whose leader and our Prime Minister has – with a multi-million dollar enterprise that is already regulated (NIB) – repeatedly, unashamedly and with a sly grin on his face each time reportedly told media-documented untruths to the Bahamian people about what is going on there and what he knows about the same.
If I cannot trust the Prime Minister to tell the truth about what is already regulated and has been for our entire nationhood, I am surely not stupid enough to believe he will suddenly become a Prime Minister of honesty, competence, transparency and responsibility on gambling – an enterprise that is wrought with its own share of vices, not the least of which being the love of money, and all that it entails.
And even more to the point, the Prime Minister was not even able to execute this January 28 poll on gaming properly, and this was just a vote on the issue. This January 28 poll has been bungled beyond punch line. You know that you really have screwed up when you’re asking a country of numbers players to vote on numbers and even numbers men plan to vote ‘no’ because of the way the process has been handled!!!
If you cannot organize a simple vote properly and effectively, you’re going to create and then regulate a whole new industry in The Bahamas based on an affirmative result from that vote?
Sharon Turner
