TThis article is so poorly written. How Brent Stubbs remains as the chief sports writer for this nnewspaper baffles me.

I personally believe him to be an uneducated cretin who always bring some type of racial or xenophobic slant to the discussion, be it warranted or not.

Captive insurance is when you take out an insurance premium against you , or anyone in your family being kidnapped and held 'captive' for ransom. Very popular in Mexico I believe.

Have no idea what you are talking about . Nothing you stated made sense at all. Payroll tax is more regressive than 'tax'- what type of tax ??? You mean VAT ? What about the idea of Capital Gains , which is what Mr D'Aguilar was referring to.

Lets not get too personal here shall we ? The gentleman in question is a successful business man and has been approached by the Tribune for his views on many different business related subjects. He is qualified to speak on such subjects ( as Im sure you are being the successful business man that you are ) and I would hardly say he is seeking the limelight but merely offering an alternative view to what is a highly contentious subject. I knew his father and no one ever called him Vince, so I highly doubt you had such a conversation with him. Methinks you should follow the advice of your own moniker and get a reality check yourself.

An excellent post and I agree with everything you state.

Ms Rolle I respect your position on this issue and I admire you and your group for trying to gain favour with the govt to allow Bahamians to gamble in our own country. Please understand that I dont denigrate my fellow Bahamians with one large brush. What my point is that we have a sizable portion of our population that the govt, the casinos , the casino staff and more importantly right thinking Bahamians dont want in the casinos ,possibly damaging the product for the country , embarrassing us and creating an atmosphere that might endanger this very lucrative industry.
You said something very interesting at the end of your post; ' we will always be treated how we deserve to be treated by others' . That is exactly what will happen if Bahamians of a certain disposition are allowed to gamble in our casinos. They will tar us all with the same brush and we will be ALL seen in the same light as these same boorish, unmannered , uncivilized persons. Sandsmarco wants to turn this discussion into a discourse on racial dynamics and segregation when the simple truth is that this is simply about a very large portion of our society that is a liability to us, and we need to make sensible decisions about whether we allow them to ruin our reputation and tourist related industries.

Let me add something before I leave this topic. There are thousands of hard working, well mannered, courteous Bahamians who do our country proud on many levels. These same Bahamians are not who Mr Sands is referring to , or myself for that matter. These same Bahamians are disciplined, mature enough to use the casinos in our country. Most sensible Bahamians know this deep down and are not caught up in all the rhetoric being thrown around about segregation, racism etc. We have come too far down the road to start going back down that pointless avenue. Unfortunately many of our society do not know how to behave and it is because of this that the casinos do not want them on their premises . Its as simple as that.

@sandsmarco

You really have dissected this issue havent you ? Let me spell it out for you as you seem to think we live in a pluralistic society here in Nassau . We dont. This is a nation divided. Whether you believe that or not is not debatable. It is not divided by race as much as you would like to believe but by socio-economic levels. There are the haves and have nots. The have nots see no future or jobs for themselves and live their lives accordingly. The haves go to work, try and educate their children etc and try and stay alive in this town. Again I say to you that most people in this country are scared to go out at night. You being a man of the people aint scared, the rest of us are. The casino does not want certain bahamians in the casino because they dont know how to act. If you find that proposition racist, ungodly whatever then just look at the bars and nightclubs here on the weekends and the amount of gun crime etc. The irony is that these same Bahamians that you want to defend CAN act civilized when they want to, ie in Florida. When they go to Florida they put on their seat belts, they obey the laws etc Once they get back to Nassau its back to acting how they feel.
You keep on about this anti -Bahamian sentiment that you feel is behind this move to keep locals out the casino. Its nothing to do with being anti-bahamian. Its protecting a very lucrative industry that employs thousands of bahamians and doesnt need the revenue or the issues that would come with allowing locals to gamble. If you are so certain that people feel so strongly about this issue then canvass those Bahamian employees in the casino and see if they want Bahamians to be allowed in the casino. I worked as a dealer and supervisor and know what they are going to tell you . They are going to tell you that they dont want Bahamians in the casino. They will tell you that MANY of them , NOT ALL act like jack asses on the occasions when they come in and that if they were allowed to gamble next to the tourists they could and would piss off some of them, resulting in less TIPS for the staff. less money for the bahamian staff. a direct and negative impact. If you think this far fetched and racist then that would be your take on the matter. Do you really believe that black bahamians feel that strongly on this matter ? They dont. Its a minority who believe there is an issue that needs to be addressed. The issue is nothing to do with the rights to play in a casino but rather furthering their own petty agendas.

@sandsmarco

Your attempt to portray me as some kind of Uncle Tom or sellout is pitiful. You assume that because I didnt make one positive comment about Bahamians then ergo I must be a self-hating black person , deeply ashamed of my own people. Get real brother !!
You ask whom I compare the Bahamas with, well it aint TCI for sure. The casino down there aint Atlantis with the same calibre of players and turnover. I am comparing Bahamas with its PEERS - Las Vegas and Atlantic City. I stand by my position that the island is too small for locals to get involved. Lets get real here for a minute. You claim that Bahamians can control themselves and conduct themselves like any other nationality. Yes they can- but that would be the minority. That would be decent people who like myself are afraid to go out on weekends to fish fry, to bars, clubs because of the young, barbaric hordes of young people who will shoot, stab or kill with the slightest provocation. Now if Im exaggerating please check your daily newspaper tomorrow and see if Im lying. Decent Bahamians are scared to go out at night in their own country , yet you with your head in the sand seem to believe that these scum will waltz in the casino and behave themselves just because there is security present. You ask about etiquette and how it translates to the casino floor , your keen observation being; ' where people are screaming every other second ' and to the ignorant it might seem that chaotic but it isnt. There is specific interaction on casino tables that can get aggressive and confrontational. Again mature and intelligent Bahamians would be able to navigate these moments, the average 23 year old from Kemp Road, drunk and wanting to show off and impress his friends on a Friday night will not. There would be serious conflict because in case you didnt know this generation of young Bahamians doesnt know about non-violent conflict resolution.
To reiterate and without putting words into Mr. Sands mouth, his comments were aimed at a specific portion of the Bahamian society. Unfortunately sandsmarco you have used this forum to promote your own agenda of racial pride and the whole anti-segregationist topic to create the notion that this is some kind of Apartheid in our country. Its not . Its common sense that Mr Sands knows will protect the jobs of Bahamians and future generations to come. Please leave the racial grandstanding for another time.