The Bahamas’ status as well-regulated financial services jurisdiction will be undermined if webshop gaming is allowed to persist as an illegal activity, the Gaming Board’s chairman warned yesterday.

Reiterating previous statements by the Prime Minister, Andre Rollins, who is also MP for Fort Charlotte, said the Bahamas’ anti-money laundering regime could not be effective if a sector that conducted financial transactions worth multi-million dollar sums annually remained outside the regulatory regime.

The webshop gaming industry is estimated to gross $400 million annually, or more than $1 million per day, and Mr Rollins, in a statement, said: “To continue to allow gaming houses in the Bahamas to exist without

appropriate regulatory controls creates the potential for the infiltration of, and control, by criminal entities, which could very easily produce adverse domestic and international consequences.

“Our nation’s financial regulatory regime, and the reporting requirements it imposes on businesses engaged in financial services, cannot be effective if it ignores a large group of businesses which conduct significant financial transactions.

“This is critical for our country if we wish to maintain our

standing as a responsible financial services jurisdiction, compliant with international anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism best practices.”

Speaking out ahead of the so-called ‘gaming referendum’, which is scheduled for next Monday, Mr Rollins set out what he considered are the issues that Bahamians need to contemplate.

Insisting that the Bahamas “cannot permit any industry to operate outside the purview of the law, and without proper regulation and oversight”, Mr Rollins said webshop gaming could not be regulated “in part; it must be regulated as a whole.

“The Government cannot be perceived as being guilty of engendering a culture where laws are selectively observed and applied, where law enforcement and not justice is blind.”

Mr Rollins said lawful gaming regimes existed throughout the Caribbean, having replaced previously underground gaming operations. He added that they all survived as regulated ones despite concerns that they would be undermined by the impact of taxation on revenues and/or player winnings.

Noting that the Government would receive a new revenue stream from taxing webshop gaming, Mr Rollins said a ‘no’ vote on Monday to both questions would not end Bahamian demand for ‘numbers.

He added that the Government would be under “greater pressure” to use scarce police resources to crack down on webshops, drawing personnel and fund away from fighting violent crime.

“While it has admittedly taken far too long for any government to muster the political will and courage to police this unregulated activity, and despite the fact that preparation for this referendum has been an awkward and untidy process, it cannot be argued that fifty-plus years is insufficient time to know whether or not something should be regulated or taxed for the benefit of our country and people,” Mr Rollins said.

“The alternative is to yield to the calls to postpone this process and risk perpetuating government that is irresponsible and a society that is ungovernable.”