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EDITORIAL - The hypocrisy which stymies casino gaming
published: Thursday | January 25, 2007
It is perhaps still too much to hope that the approval by Guyana's parliament of legislation to allow casino gaming will inspire Jamaica's lawmakers to end their hypocrisy on the subject. So, we won't hold our breath.
We had hoped that the passage from the political scene of Edward Seaga, whose administration of the 1980s, rejected casinos, and more recently, P.J. Patterson, who opposed them because of a pledge he purportedly made to his mother, Jamaica would have been freed of the anti-casino shackles. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case, judging from the attitude of the current Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
Not only has Mrs. Simpson Miller not placed the issue anywhere on her agenda - or anywhere that it is noticeable - but her alignment with the evangelical movement seems to make the subject moot. That's a shame, for as it now stands with regard to casino gaming, Jamaica is enjoying the worst of both worlds.
The fact is, there is no real moral principle on which the Government can claim with any legitimacy that it stands against casinos or gambling generally. For instance, gambling in Jamaica is a more than J$40 billion a year business, half of which is spent on lotteries. This country wagers about J$5 billion a year on horse racing and, believe it or not, about another J$17 billion in casinos, euphemistically called gaming lounges. With a plethora of gambling machines, the only things they lack in comparison to formal casinos are the croupiers and live, rather than computer-simulated card games.
Being hypocritical and maintaining the myth of being anti-casino might be good politics among the Bible-thumpers, but is certainly bad economics. We still have the sin while eschewing the profit. And the development. And the jobs.
Casino gaming is, after all, a multibillion-dollar business worldwide, into which many, many communities have tapped to support their growth and development. But the sophisticated money is not in small gaming lounges. The big bucks abound in a mega leisure industry that ties gambling into a holiday experience. So, as the people in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, myriad Native Indian reservations across the United States, the Bahamas and elsewhere will attest, casinos tend to come with big hotels. With hotels come visitors and demand for services.
Indeed, there have been, over the years, many proposals for casino-based hotel developments in Jamaica, which have died because of a national hypocrisy. In the process Jamaica has foregone jobs, wages and taxes, all of which are critical ingredients for economic growth and development.
This has happened because administrations over the years have convinced themselves that the morality of gambling is especially threatening in the form of casino gaming. There are also attempts to flog the argument that the casino business is dominated by organised crime, which, really is a position that is nearly 40 years out-of-date.
In any event, it can't be beyond us to put in place proper regulatory mechanisms to ensure that gaming enterprises are not operated by crooks and to even limit - as bad an idea as this would be - the opportunity for Jamaicans to use the facilities.
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The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
published: Thursday | January 25, 2007
It is perhaps still too much to hope that the approval by Guyana's parliament of legislation to allow casino gaming will inspire Jamaica's lawmakers to end their hypocrisy on the subject. So, we won't hold our breath.
We had hoped that the passage from the political scene of Edward Seaga, whose administration of the 1980s, rejected casinos, and more recently, P.J. Patterson, who opposed them because of a pledge he purportedly made to his mother, Jamaica would have been freed of the anti-casino shackles. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case, judging from the attitude of the current Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.
Not only has Mrs. Simpson Miller not placed the issue anywhere on her agenda - or anywhere that it is noticeable - but her alignment with the evangelical movement seems to make the subject moot. That's a shame, for as it now stands with regard to casino gaming, Jamaica is enjoying the worst of both worlds.
The fact is, there is no real moral principle on which the Government can claim with any legitimacy that it stands against casinos or gambling generally. For instance, gambling in Jamaica is a more than J$40 billion a year business, half of which is spent on lotteries. This country wagers about J$5 billion a year on horse racing and, believe it or not, about another J$17 billion in casinos, euphemistically called gaming lounges. With a plethora of gambling machines, the only things they lack in comparison to formal casinos are the croupiers and live, rather than computer-simulated card games.
Being hypocritical and maintaining the myth of being anti-casino might be good politics among the Bible-thumpers, but is certainly bad economics. We still have the sin while eschewing the profit. And the development. And the jobs.
Casino gaming is, after all, a multibillion-dollar business worldwide, into which many, many communities have tapped to support their growth and development. But the sophisticated money is not in small gaming lounges. The big bucks abound in a mega leisure industry that ties gambling into a holiday experience. So, as the people in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, myriad Native Indian reservations across the United States, the Bahamas and elsewhere will attest, casinos tend to come with big hotels. With hotels come visitors and demand for services.
Indeed, there have been, over the years, many proposals for casino-based hotel developments in Jamaica, which have died because of a national hypocrisy. In the process Jamaica has foregone jobs, wages and taxes, all of which are critical ingredients for economic growth and development.
This has happened because administrations over the years have convinced themselves that the morality of gambling is especially threatening in the form of casino gaming. There are also attempts to flog the argument that the casino business is dominated by organised crime, which, really is a position that is nearly 40 years out-of-date.
In any event, it can't be beyond us to put in place proper regulatory mechanisms to ensure that gaming enterprises are not operated by crooks and to even limit - as bad an idea as this would be - the opportunity for Jamaicans to use the facilities.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
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