"Acknowledging that he backed the web shop industry’s legalisation, Mr D’Aguilar suggested he had the Bahamian people’s support for the imposition of more controls on the sector." Seems a bit contradictory, does it not?

Like the canine analogy!

Some 3,000 Churches, many located in the dense highly populated urban areas where the most prayers are needed one would have expected the church pastors to have something to say on the gambling of the people in the area. With people being laid off and alreafy high unemployment where is the money coming from to gamble and also pay church collestion?

Many of the voting centres oon the Gambling Reerendum were loacted in the Church Halls or on Church property.

Pastors have said plenty on LGBTN even going down to protest in Rawson Square, managed to get legislation dropped on it being a crime if a dirty no good scheming drunk husband rapes his wife, managed tp prevent Bahamian females from having the same rights as Bahamian men etcetc. BUT not much to say on the webshops.

Hopefully, the National Lottery will be implemented, sooner rather than later and not just given lip service.

Comrades! Red between lines Dionisio's script and it is not in prime minister Minni's DNA to take on and enforce whatever actions are necessary to establish a Bahamaland Lottery Corporation.
There remains serious problems and concerns still boiling inside Bahamalanders when it comes to how the Christie administration screwed the citizens over how they went about 'regularising' the criminal numbers rackets.
How can the Minnis administration, correct something - if they are not prepared to acknowledge that whatever 'regularising' was done - was contrary to the EXPRESSED WILL of the PEOPLE - You cannot 'RE regularise' WRONG!

EUREKA !

To get the Pastors and Churches to have someting to say on gambling I should say that the LGBTN Bahamian women who have been sexually assauted by foreign husbands and who are likely to want the baby to be Bahamian and who are making too many babies anyhow are gambling in the webshops. OMG SAY SOMETING LIKE THAT AND ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE WITH ALL THE PASTORS HAVING SOMETHING TO SAY INSTEAD OF THE SILENCE BY THE CHURCH AT THIS TIME.

Thank You Mr D'Aguilar!

For those of you who do not know the scumbags behind the Brickell Management Group's money laundering operations for the Island Luck chain of gaming web shops, here is the entire list of BMG's directors listed on its web site at https://brickellbahamas.com/about-us/

* Sebas Bastian (Chairman)
* Wes Bastian
* Paul D. Major (President & Managing Director)
* Felix Stubbs
* Keith Major Sr.
* Cassius Stuart
* Alfred Sears
* Ed Fields
* Leon Williams

Other entities associated with Sebas Bastian are Vandoff Construction, Investar Securities, and BMG Insurance Agents & Brokers. The latter entity no doubt received its license to conduct insurance business from our Insurance Commissioner, Michele Fields-Turnquest, who just so happens to be none other than the wife of Ed Fields. Did Sebas Bastian give Ed Fields his directorship of the BMG holding company as a quid quo pro for Ed's wife (Michele) issuing the insurance license? The cheese in Denmark never smells good when it comes to all those with ties to Sebas Bastian's various criminal enterprises!

Others who have allowed their names to be royally sullied by serving as a director of Island Luck (either currently or in the past) include Barry Malcom (ex-Scotia Bank), Julian Francis (ex-governor of Central Bank) and, of course, Alfred Sears (former MP and Attorney General). My oh my, what certain greedy people are willing to stoop to to make big extra bucks for influence peddling on behalf of a real low-life thug like Sebas Bastian. Once good reputations are now tarnished forever more!

You forget to mention Dirk Simmons who worked for Citco before they shut down their Bahamas operations. Is he still serving as Island Luck's (Sebas Bastian's) CFO?

Also see link below for names and faces of some of Sebas Bastian's other cohorts at his Investar Securities enterprise. Presumably Hillary Deveaux (former head of the Bahamas Securities Commission and now a director of Investar Securities) peddled his influence to get the licensing Sebas Bastian needed for Investar Securities.

http://www.ivstar.com/about-investar/bo…

The names on that list are now repulsive to me. Thanks for that.

Certain names on that list have been repulsive to many of us for decades. Of course they are all now most repugnant and repulsive by virtue of their ties to the criminal activities of the low-life thug, Sebas Bastian.

Comrade Reality_Check, I was and remain in opposition to how the Christie administration went about 'Regularising' the criminal numbers operations.... but Craig Flowers and Sebas Bastian are not to blame. They simply took advantage of a multi Billion Dollars - Christie administration Gift Horse.
Isn't the much bigger question is, will the red shirts administration undo the 'Regularising,' or just give it a red coat paint makeover?

Comrade Well_mudda, where is your evidence of them being 'criminal thugs?

They may not be responsible for 'regularising' but they and their ilk are the personification of nefarious.

Just like anything else the Bahamian government sector touches, the National Lottery will be a disaster. If the National Lottery competes with the numbers houses, they will piss all over it so much that we will end up with the only money losing Lottery in the Universe.

Comrade OldFort2012, you couldn't be more right about what WILL happen if the proper independence and safeguards are not well thought out in advance of the establishment of the Bahamaland Lottery Corporation. We both knows that indeed there are those red shirts, who with the proper training - will soon become equal tiefers?

Touche Comrade!

Repeal and Replace the Webshops Act (aka Gaming Act) ..........Shut down the existing webshops ....... Launch the National Lottery ......... Open BTC-like franchise shops for the National Lottery (and let there be a moratorium of 1 franchise shop per 5,000 population) ....... reps can sell numbers via mobile apps and online as well........ Then set up a sovereign wealth fund to create a "piggy bank" for the country.

This can be done quite easily .......... there are enough global examples to study

The Government need not spend money to open BTC-like shops. The tickets can be purchased at local businesses, perhaps with a slight percentage going to the seller of the ticket, as with the selling of BTC top-up. Easy-peasy!

Good point ......... but it has to have a moratorium ...... that is the problem today with the webshops on every corner ..... like bars and churches

Comrades! Why wouldn't 'Regularised' numbers businesses - not turn to prominent politicians, lawyers, bankers, known political fixers, and former senior policeman's - to help promote public acceptance and instill legitimacy to the selling and buying of numbers? You don't thinks they're on them boards cause of their numbers operational skills and knowledges they brought with them to the boards?

As if you do not know that organized criminals the world over nearly always seek to protect and grow their racketeering criminal enterprises by ingratiating themselves with, and hiding behind the facade of, soul-less greedy influence peddlers and corrupt politicians who can be 'bought' and become de facto accomplices to the criminal activities.

Comrade Reality_Check, Is the numbers business wicked, probably so. Are they criminal enterprises, far from it - according to both the PLP's and Red Shirts attorney generals - says they've been 'Regularised' as being legit.
Believe me there are still solid reasons to questions lots about the numbers businesses, but accusing operators of being thugs will not fly.

Only pigs don't fly!

Forget Tal...my mistake for having indulged him in the first place. It won't happen again anytime soon.

I'm behind a national lottery 100%. It's a no brainer. The only sad part is that thugs were able for this long to hold hostage the national lottery for their own selfish gains.

Want to get D'Aguliar sweating? Just leak some plans the web shops have to invest in wash houses. To break the current monopoly held in the clothes washing sector. The web shops plans to remarry the industry under whose guise it started out. Ten - 50 cent wash and 20 dryers please!

Get serious John .......... this is no time to compare laundromats and webshops ....... the only thing they have in common is "laundering".

Good one!

@sheeprunner go study the history of web shops and wash houses then come talk to me. Otherwise be quiet and in favor of De'Agular's national lottery. Even afyall the studies and the electorate did not favor it.. a national lottery

FINALLY a step in the right direction with the gambling issue. A national lottery will benefit the entire country.

The webshop cowboy cartel is headed to the junkyard. Hopefully, PM Sheriff Minnis will have the fortitude to cause UBP cartels that have held the country hostage for decades to follow suit!

> Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian said yesterday that he is prepared to have a sit down with Minister of Tourism Dionisio D’Aguilar regarding concerns that the minister has with the web shop industry.

>"The industry is going to have a sit down with the minister and have a constructive conversation on the way forward,” Bastian said.

>I don’t think there should be anything negative coming out of something like that.

>It’s just the way you do business. I think when all the parties get in the room we will have a positive resolution on all sides.”

>Bastian stressed that he did not want to have a “dialogue in the media”.
“The back and forth via the media is not constructive,” he said.

>“I will not fall victim to that.”

There's only one reason this cocker roach of a thug wants to take the media advantage away from D'Aguilar. Sebas Bastian knows full well the vast majority of Bahamians want the web shop legislation born out of government corruption to be repealed in its entirety. Only then can the web shops and other criminal enterprises of the corrupt racketeering numbers bosses be shutdown with proper strong law enforcement and a tightly run National Lottery established to accommodate the much more socially responsible gambling (entertainment) needs of residents of the Bahamas.

This is a red hot political potato for the Minnis-led FNM government. No, it is even much more than that. For Minnis it's a politically deadly grenade in his hand with the pin pulled! D'Aguilar would be a total fool to agree to anything put to him by the numbers bosses behind closed doors without widespread public consultation through the media. The same applies to Minnis. During his election campaigning Minnis promised the voters time and time again that his government would set the gold standard for transparency. Of course we all know the modus operandi of Sebas Bastian has always been to bribe government officials whenever he can behind closed doors to protect or expand his criminal enterprises. Here's where we find out just what type of men D'Aguilar and Minnis truly are. Let's hope they remember it's the people's time!

Let's hope too that Minnis and D'Aguilar remember that heavy-handed taxation and higher fees alone are not the solution to this scourge on our society and the reputation of our country. As mentioned before, we simply cannot afford for our government to be seen to be partnering with criminal enterprises with its share of the ill-gotten profits/gains taking the form of very high taxes and fees. Our international friends and the global financial community are now hinting in no unsubtle way that our country's banking system is at serious risk of being cut-off from the global financial system if our government does not shutdown the criminal enterprises headed by the corrupt racketeering numbers' bosses. Both Minnis and D'Aguilar had better not fall victim to shooting-from-their-hips in dealing with the blight on our country caused by the criminal enterprises of the numbers bosses. As Minnis likes to point out, we must accept that we live in a larger world.

Maybe the government needs to take notes form the so called Sebas Cartel. Well organized, good planning, controls and forward thinking has lead to the profitability and success. despite what the haters say. better to leave gambling private than to have government meddle with it and get brown nosed.

True to form you remain a most ardent supporter of the criminal enterprises run by the corrupt racketeering numbers bosses. Have they started putting a little extra butter on your bread for all of your efforts being made to try make them look good or somehow appear legitimate?

I should not dIgnify your post with a response but what part of the Web Shop business is corrupt racketeering? Not unlike any casino business? Admit it, you hate to see anything Bahamian successful. And worse for a company of Black Bahamians...but its the people's time!

Only weak minds play the race card today my friend; besides, I would not be surprised if I'm a shade or two darker than you. You seem to think only lighter skinned people are capable of thinking, which might explain some of the issues you have going on in that head of yours.

John ........ do you for a minute believe that the Sebas Cartel is Bahamian-owned??????? ............. smt

Wow, thank you Realitycheck. Felix Stubbs? The prominent member of Rotary who was later appointed to director of NIB. Coincidently under his watch the former Prime Minister was granted honouree membership of Rotary. Obviously these events were totally unconnected. although I do think Mr. Stubbs should do the right thing and resign membership of an organization that prides itself on service above self and not self serving behaviour. Mr. Stubbs would not of course engage in any self serving behaviour but just the possibility of the perception should prompt action. Caesar's wife and all that. Of course we expect this sort of thing from ex-plp ministers so Alfred is in the right place.

I have stories about Felix Stubbs.

Share some of your stories, please!!!!!!!!!! ........ These guys parade around always as the "experts" and the "benevolent ones" ........ but when you look below the surface, many of them are destroying the middle and lower classes by their drive to become part of the ONE PERCENT social class.