Let me first say that I fully support the idea of legal local gambling, and I expect it to pass, if only because no right thinking person would not vote to decriminalize his or her activities.
Having said that, it seems that there has been an awful lot of unclear thinking when it comes to the benefits that surround this issue. There are large signs around that suggest this initiative will create 3000 new jobs, and pour up to $20 million a year into the country’s coffers.
Whoa, hold up, I have some problems with that. For one thing, the current numbers businesses up and down the whole Island chain already employ as many people as will be needed to operate a legal numbers operation. Yes, the gaming board will need to expand a bit (Probably more than necessary, such are the ways of bureaucracy) but that will most likely be it.
You see the players are already gambling out of their socks, and legalizing it will, if anything, reduce the number of gamblers.
Why, you may ask? That is because this vaunted $20 million has to come from somewhere, so where.
There are two places that money can come from, first is be grabbing all the profits the illegal numbers houses have been enjoying, and the second is by reducing the payouts to winners. Any move to reduce winners’ payouts will have two effects, less players, and the reemergence of illegal houses offering a better payout and undercutting the legal rate. Oh alright, that might create a handful of jobs for the police as well!