By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

CRAIG Flowers, head of FML Group of Companies, said he wasn’t surprised by yesterday’s low voter turnout for the referendum on gambling as there wasn’t “enough excitement” from the general public.

He was speaking to the press after he and Sebas Bastian of Island Luck arrived together to cast their votes at the Montagu constituency’s St Matthew’s Church polling station.

Wearing a Vote “Yes” Bahamas t-shirt, Mr Flowers explained that in the lead-up to yesterday’s hotly-debated referendum, there never seemed to be much interest from the general public to go out and vote.

“It doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think that there was enough excitement throughout the entire ordeal and we expected a low turnout,” he said.

“It was that sort of atmosphere during the entire campaign and programme. It never seemed to be a great energy from the public at large. That’s the way it appeared to myself, on a personal note.”

Mr Bastian had similar sentiments and said he was “not really” surprised by the turnout. However, he noted “strong” voter turnout in specific areas.

“I’m basically based in the south and it’s very strong in Pinewood and the South Beach area and the Bamboo Town area,” he said. “So the grass-roots seem to be coming out. I don’t know about the suburb places, but the grass-roots are out in full effect.”

Both web-shop owners also confirmed they had closed business for the day.

“The whole industry is closed today. That isn’t even important – we did that for the greater good,” Mr Bastian said. “There’s nothing more important than achieving the ‘yes’ vote on behalf of the Bahamian people. Whether its $10, $2, $200 (lost), we don’t care really.

“When I came to the polls today, I didn’t come as a web-shop owner, I came as a Bahamian. A Bahamian that believes what’s at stake and that’s our future. I think I did the right thing, It’s pretty obvious what I voted and I think this is a change.”

“We think that everybody that supports us is certainly interested in seeing this pass,” Mr Flowers said. “For that reason only they have no problems with us closing today.”

Both men had previously agreed they would close their physical webshop locations if the referendum passed with a majority “no” vote.

Mr Flowers was quoted as telling a reporter that he would close all of his shops should the majority of Bahamians vote “no” for the first question on the January 28 gambling referendum.

Mr Bastian had said: “We would close down the physical stores themselves, but the website will basically remain on through the mere fact that the website is not illegal. It is licensed by the Isles of Man, the servers are located in Isles of Man, and I have a gaming license to operate islandluck.com.”