By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Gaming Board is "under pressure to change the game on the ground" and better protect the most vulnerable Bahamians from irresponsible gambling, a Cabinet Minister has revealed.

Dionisio D'Aguilar, minister of tourism who has responsibility for gaming, told Tribune Business that the regulator was assessing whether to "allocate resources" to a consumer education initiative to counter the "constant bombardment" from web shops encouraging Bahamians to gamble.

While praising the Bahamas Gaming Operators Association's recently-unveiled "anti-addiction" initiative, Mr D'Aguilar said such efforts could not be left solely to self-regulation - and an industry whose interests lay in getting persons to repeatedly play "games of chance".

Pointing to the frequent complaints about gaming's anti-social consequences, and especially its alleged impact on Family Island communities, the Minister also suggested that Bahamians should receive welfare and other social security benefits on the condition they did not gamble.

Mr D'Aguilar said there was a perception that the eight licensed web shop operators, aided by the ten-year bar on new market entrants, were "in the driver's seat with all benefits accruing to them" - thus making a review of the industry's current regulatory regime imperative.

He suggested that such a review was already underway, and that the Gaming Board will shortly be approaching the industry to obtain feedback on its proposals.

Speaking after the Association last week launched its Responsible Gaming and Addiction Prevention Programme, Mr D'Aguilar said: "Any initiative that points out the social cost of gaming is to be commended.

"It's very important, in much the same way it is done with smoking, to point out to those that game that there is a social cost associated with it."

Suggesting that such consumer protection activities cannot be left to the web shop industry alone, Mr D'Aguilar said the authorities and gaming regulators in other countries typically "emphasise to the unsuspecting public, the most vulnerable of our communities, which are generally the low income groups, that you cannot make a living through gaming.

"If you are unable to afford it, you shouldn't do it.... Make no bones about it, everybody has heard many stories about the social cost of gaming. Notwithstanding whether they may be correct or not, there is a perception - especially in the Family Islands - that there is a large social cost for communities.

"To use an old Bahamian adage: It is causing people to lose their working minds." Tribune Business has itself heard repeated stories of families being unable to pay for food, children's clothing and every day living costs as a result of all income being frittered away on gaming.

Given this background, Mr D'Aguilar told Tribune Business: "There is pressure on the regulator to change the game on the ground, which has been the constant bombardment of advertising encouraging people to game.

"That's a problem. The Gaming Board is contemplating beginning to allocate resources to start a gaming education narrative to let people know they should game responsibly, and to counter this constant bombardment from those whose business it is to encourage people to game, the domestic gaming houses."

The Minister said Bahamians were continuously exposed to the web shop gaming industry's promotional messages through social media, with some even possessing their own TV stations. It also employs traditional advertising forms throughout the islands, with the sector saturating the country, using slogans such as 'Everybody Wins'.

Mr D'Aguilar said "the constant beating of the drum that not enough is being done to discourage those least able to game from gaming is beginning to resonate" with the Gaming Board and the Government.

He added that the regulator, which falls under his oversight, was reviewing its actions thus far and how it can "supplement them" so that "we have our story to tell".

"It's hard for a business that makes money off people gaming to change and adopt this role of self-regulation," Mr D'Aguilar told Tribune Business. "While they may want to do it, it's up to the Gaming Board to ensure their programme of self-regulation is adequate and, if not, to supplement it with their message.

"The question is: How far does one go? We can do advertising and education, but do we take the next step? If you're receiving social assistance from the state, should you be able to game? I don't think so, but are we going to that far?

"We have to decide if we want to protect these people. If you are receiving assistance from the state, there must be some conditions attached, and one of those should be not to gamble. Those are the decisions we have to make. That's a conversation we need to have."

Mr D'Aguilar's suggestion is likely to prove unpopular in certain quarters, with some likely to brand it as akin to a 'nanny state' where the Government is trying to legislate and control morality. However, the Minister and his colleagues are likely to view it as protecting the most vulnerable Bahamians, and their dependents, from themselves and their excesses.

He likened it to the worldwide health, education and advertising campaign to inform persons about the dangers of smoking, an initiative that countered the tobacco industry's multi-billion dollar promotions and significantly reduced the number of deaths from lung cancer and associated diseases.

Suggesting that the web shops enjoyed similar resources in a Bahamian context, Mr D'Aguilar said this meant the Government had to be concerned about consumer protection.

He disclosed that the sector's regulatory regime was already under review, with the proposals likely to be submitted to the web shops "imminently".

"We're drawing up our intentions and will be coming to industry to discuss with them on how best to implement that and roll it out," Mr D'Aguilar said.

He added that he expected an update "in the next week or so" on discussions between the Gaming Board and Central Bank on how to prevent web shops from being used as unlicensed money transmission providers.

"There's a perception that the industry is clearly in the driver's seat, and all the benefits accrue to them, and it's set up to the complete advantage of companies operating in it," Mr D'Aguilar told Tribune Business.

"I think a review of the regulations, with the gaming public in mind, needs to be looked at. We have three years of history to see if any adjustments are necessary to protect the consumer from the information they are presented with and given by some very well-funded and powerful companies in whose best interests it is to get people to game.

"We have to look at it, and where most of the advantages accrue to companies operating in the sector, maybe we now have to review it to ensure adequate protections are in place for the consuming public."