Restrictions on access by locals to the Princess Hotel Casino are seemingly being relaxed based on reports that women are being allowed to freely enter to gamble while men are subjected to scrutiny and the discretion of management.
The gambling prevention law, which was amended in 2007 to legalise the establishment of casinos locally, states that only registered guests of the hotel and overseas nationals could be patrons of the casino. When the legislation was amended in January 2007, there was widespread objection from members of the religious community, who argued that there were several social ills connected with gambling.
Over the months and especially during the holiday season it was witnessed by this newspaper and there have been complaints raised by members of the public that local women could access the casino with just an identification card.
Local men faced a more difficult prospect and their entry was subject to the discretion of management of hotel.
However, the casino’s management dismissed this, saying that only guests are allowed. “That is not true. As long as they (men) are accommodated at the hotel, they can enter the casino,” a male, who would not give his name but informed that he was the General Manager of the Hotel, told Stabroek News yesterday.
The man, who spoke with a foreign accent, stressed that he would not give his name over the telephone. He maintained that his establishment works within the laws of Guyana.
Earlier yesterday, in a bid to test the reports that women were being allowed in, a female and two male Stabroek News employees tried accessing the hotel casino. They were informed by an employee that only the female would be allowed to enter after presentation of a local ID. The males, the employee stated, would have to first be invited by a female, who would then have to seek permission from management to ascertain if they would be granted permission.
It is unclear what criteria is used to determine which males are eligible and which are not.
A request was then made to see the manager and the reporters were asked if it was for the males to be granted access. It was then that Stabroek News requested an audience with management on its policy as it relates to locals gambling. This newspaper was told by Executive Secretary to the General Manager, Nandani Seecharan that an interview would be granted today at 2pm. She later called to postpone the interview until sometime next week but when told of the urgency for a statement from the hotel she had the unnamed General Manager call the newspaper to give the statement that he did.
At the official opening of the US$2M facility in 2010, former President Bharrat Jagdeo had hinted at a relaxation of legislation that bars locals from patronising the casino. “We have had to put limitations on who come into these casinos. But frankly speaking, it is particularly bothersome to me that the legislation that we have passed, which I fully subscribe to, creates a situation… akin to apartheid,” Jagdeo said. “How it evolves in the future, I don’t know, but there’re various forces acting at this point in time…. For me, particularly, this is something that I find distasteful. Guyanese should be able to enjoy all the choices in their own country,” he added.
Following this statement, the political opposition and sections of the religious community expressed uneasiness about the likely implications. However, no further pronouncement was made on the issue by Jagdeo and to date neither has any current government official.
From the outset, critics had also said that a casino dependent only on guests of the hotel would not likely thrive.
