With stiff opposition from the religions, the debate on the contentious bill to enable casino gambling had to be adjourned to Monday after a record 30 MPs indicated their intention yesterday to speak on the topic and the government showed no sign of budging from the plan to have it passed quickly.
Only six MPs were able to make presentations at the 10 pm adjournment on a day that saw the religious community gathering across the road at the St Andrews Kirk to pray for the defeat of the bill.
Those making presentations were Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee who is taking the bill through its various stages in parliament; Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, who said he was opposed to the bill from purely religious grounds; and Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Manniram Prashad, who expressed the greatest respect for the religious communities and who maintained that the bill would be protecting the poor and catering to the high end tourists.
PNCR-1G MP Volda Lawrence, who was the fourth speaker, called for the matter to be taken to a referendum. AFC MP Raphael Trotman questioned the loopholes in the laws and felt that there should have been an entirely new bill to deal with the issue of casino gambling and not just an amendment to the gambling prevention act of 1992. Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir said that people were getting away with the wrong impression that the casinos would be open to Guyanese of all walks of life which would not be the case.
The debate was not without its challenges to Acting Speaker Clarissa Riehl who said that she was tested at every level of the debate having had to refer to the parliamentary standing orders to ensure order in the House on several occasions before parliament adjourned at 10 pm. She described her session in the Speaker’s chair as a baptism of fire and expressed the view that there might have been some measure of irresponsibility on both sides of the House.
The debate on the Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Bill was punctuated by three adjournments, two divisions of the House to vote on a motion to allow Trotman a 15-minute extension. During one round, PPP/C MP Bernard De Santos abstained from voting. Following defeat in the second round after Corbin asked for a 13-minute extension and there was still vociferous opposition, Trotman was granted ten minutes on the intervention of PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira.
In his presentation Rohee argued that apart from the moral issues that arise from casino gambling, the economic, social and financial benefits are of equal importance to the society.
Stating that that was an inherent feature of human nature, he referred to the experiences in the United Kingdom where he contended that two thirds of the population was engaged in gambling and in South Africa where he said it was introduced after the collapse of apartheid under the administration of Nelson Mandela.
He said that there would be safety nets to address social ills that might arise from casino gambling and said many of the ills now being experienced in society should not be blamed on casino gambling but on a free market economy.
The government could have gone the way of introducing slot machines at every street corner but this was not the case and casino gambling was being limited to three in every administrative region.
He said that casino gambling has nothing to do with the PPP/C having the majority in parliament but was an attempt to diversify tourism and at the same time `dynamise’ the economy.
Trotman was concerned that the Guyana government was on the verge of introducing casino gambling without meaningful consultation with the Guyanese people at a time when the Trinidad and Tobago government was moving to make all forms of gambling including lotteries and casino gambling illegal because of the high incidence of social ills the country was experiencing. He said that T&T, probably Guyana’s best friend, was also set on ending gambling online.
Expressing concerns about security, more so with the introduction of casino gambling when the security services still have many unsolved murders on hand, Corbin noted that only yesterday the government sought approval for “astronomical” sums of money to deal with security issues. He was not impressed with the fines contained in the bill since he feels that the sum could be easily paid by those involved in nefarious activities.
With no provision spelt out in terms of financial controls in the bill, Corbin said that already the Lotto Funds have set a precedent for improper use since the government has failed to place them in the Consolidated Fund.
While he says he vehemently opposes the passage of the bill, he said that PNCR MPs would be voting according to their conscience.
Challenging the opposition to name one vice that casino gambling would introduce which is not already affecting society, Prashad said that the onus was on the religious leaders “to educate their members not to gamble. Don’t go to casinos or countries that have casinos. Don’t ban things because you think they are bad. People must have choices,”
Responding to remarks about gaming facilities – slot machines and one armed bandits – which were shut down at then Palm Court, Nadir, who was then the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce said that Palm Court was actually the precursor to the bill. Gaming was illegal and he had indicated at the time that operating the machines was illegal until the matter was resolved.
