While the Turkish Director of Operations for Princess Casinos in the Americas Oguz Tayanc went to great pains to insist that the facility will be run within the confines of the Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2007, some private businessmen with whom Stabroek Business spoke said they believed the effective policing of the law could provide considerable challenges for the authorities.
“What the law says is that admission to the casino turns on whether or not you are employed by the casino or a paying guest at the hotel. Anyone could be a paying guest and that is where the problem could arise,” one businessman said.
Another businessman who told Stabroek Business that he is “an occasional gambler” at casinos elsewhere in the Caribbean agrees. “If the law allows for paying guests accommodated in the hotel to use the casino what is to stop me from being a paying guest at the Princess Hotel?” he asked.
This newspaper has learnt that special weekend offers by the Princess Hotel could see considerable numbers of financially able Guyanese booking in to the hotel for short periods specifically to secure access to the casino.
At last Saturday’s casino opening Tayanc insisted that only guests at the hotel and foreigners would be allowed to use it adding that the casino will keep a record of users that will include evidence of their right of access to the facility.
One of the two businessmen told Stabroek Business that “conceivably, Guyanese with dual citizenship could be deemed to be foreigners and we both know that there are numerous Guyanese with dual citizenship.” Under the Act, however, no provision is made for foreigners, per se the caveat being that they must be paying guests of the hotel.
The passage of the Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Act 2007 was preceded by considerable controversy sparked primarily by political and religious objection to gambling in Guyana. Other objectors to the gambling contended that the facility could induce Guyanese into a form of entertainment that could lead to economic ruin. During an earlier interview with Stabroek Business Tayanc had said he believed it was a matter of discipline in which expenditure on entertainment could be budgeted in the same way that other pursuits were.
The Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Act 2007 stipulates that contravention or failure to comply with the regulations results in conviction and could lead to fines of not less than $1 million or more than $20 million and imprisonment for terms of not less than six months or more than two years.
Current legislation allows for the issuance of casino premises licences only to “a new hotel or resort complex” with a minimum of 150 rooms “allocated for accommodation.”
