(Trinidad Guardian) With energy prices remaining low, the Government has no choice but to rely on an efficient tax system to generate funds, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said on July 4.
He said while the Government has “highways to be built, roads to be built,” the country is being short changed as more than 40 per cent of expected tax earnings are not being collected. “The law-abiding salary-earning person pays taxes upfront but there are other people in the country who benefit far more than you who are getting away through foul means by not paying their taxes,” the PM said.
For decades, an illegal gambling operation mimicking Play Whe has robbed the country of millions in potential tax earnings.
Despite this, upwards of 300 booths operated by mainly Chinese nationals as well as T&T nationals continue to flourish across the country with impunity. In most instances, these booths do not conceal what is taking place within them. Instead, they conduct business in the open.
Plastered on their walls are offerings of odds that the legal NLCB booths cannot compete with. NLCB booths offer $26 for every dollar on a winning bet, the illegal operators offer a minimum of $34. With the offer of better odds, and when compared to the amount made by legal NLCB operators, each illegal booth can rake in more than $10,000 a day, untaxed.
According to a source at the National Lotteries Control Board, the illegal game is worth more than $1.3 billion per year.
President of the Electronic Lotto Agents Association of T&T Alan Campbell suggested that figure is conservative, putting the value at more than $3 billion. To put this figure into context, that estimated value is greater than the 2019-2020 budget allocation for the following ministries: Public Utilities ($3.047 billion), Works and Transport($2.956 billion), Housing ($1.007 billion), Agriculture ($0.708 billion) and Rural Development and Local Government ($2.469 billion).
It also dwarfs Tobago’s entire allocation of $2.469 billion, if the estimate is accurate.
Given the economic impact of COVID-19 and complaints by legitimate NLCB booth operators who are losing income, the NLCB and T&T Police Service are reportedly taking steps to crack down on the industry. But why is it taking so long?
Asked to describe those behind the industry, an NLCB source used the following descriptions: “Big and dangerous; Not small man; Syndicate and Organised; Deep Pockets.”
According to numerous sources, it is a well-known Chinese operation that profits most. However, we are also reliably informed that there is one T&T national who owns as many as 100 of the illegal booths.
The 1,120 legal booths in T&T, run by the NLCB, operate from 6 am to 7 pm some days and 6 am to 8.30 pm on other days.
Too Easy to Play
Spanning the length and breadth of the country, there are more than 300 illegal booths.
Dividing an estimated value of the entire industry, approximately $3 billion by 300 outlets, it works out to an astonishing value of close to $11,000,000 each.
Located in Port-of-Spain, an illegal booth operates night and day. The illegal booth is located metres away from a police station, about a seven-minute walk.
On its open door, a large sign on a fluorescent piece of bristol board advertised a return of $34 for every winning $1, and there’s even MegaBall. The MegaBall offered a return of $70 to the $1.
In Port-of-Spain, next to a Chinese grocery, the booth is no bigger than eight-feet-by-eight-feet in dimension.
Attempting to see how easy it is to play, I walked inside.
Behind the counter were two Venezuelan nationals–their English far from the best.
In the small room they are in, located behind what appears to be bullet-proof glass, I spotted computers and other elaborate pieces of equipment.
The computer, from the looks of it, was the apparatus used to record and tabulate bets.
Two customers stood before me in the line. It was clear this was part of their routine. They were no strangers to playing.
A man who walked in, unsure of what the process to play is like, asked one of the customers, “Boss, where did you get that form from?”
“Right over the road. Just go to that shop over there and ask them for a form,” he replied.
He was even generous enough to point in the direction of a Chinese store on the opposite side of the road.
From my observation, the process was deliberately muddy. I followed.
Unable to secure a form, the man asked the two clerks for a form, but they declined.
My second attempt to see someone play would be far simpler.
Located in the East, another of the illegal booths can be found metres away from a police station. That’s about a one-minute walk.
Like the first booth, this one is also located next to a Chinese grocery.
Looking inside there was a computer, phone and a seat, only one man was there. With just a hole in the wall, there’s room to do little else than call a bet on the outside.
On the exterior of the wall was a chart showing recent results in a colourful text. There was also a poster showing the odds–$34 for each winning $1 bet. $70 for MegaBall.
Around two minutes later, a clerk finally showed up.
“What your bet?” asks a Chinese man.
The man says, “$5 on 20; $5 on 25.
Within seconds, they exchanged the money and he got a ticket.
Just like that, in that simple process, they allegedly defrauded the Government of taxes by bypassing the NLCB.
Despite the simplicity of playing, and despite the proximity of the booths to institutions responsible to uphold the law, this happens hundreds of times every day at booths nationwide.
With the illegal industry continuing to go unchecked, its profits have surpassed the NLCB’s Play Whe earnings, according to Campbell.
However, with estimates of the legal game being worth as much as $3 billion a year, it matches NLCB’s total revenue for 2018.
In 2019 the company’s chairman Eustance Nancis reported earnings of $3 billion for 2018.
“There are people in high standings who are supporting the illegal operators. They have something to gain from it, and it’s not only Chinese people involved as illegal operators, but there’s also a local with more than 100 illegal booths,” Campbell said.
“It is money laundering in a big, big way. They are sending the money out of the country.”
Lotto Agents: It’s Time to Act
Taking notice of the growing threat that these illegal booths posed to their livelihoods, in September 2011 Lotto agents came together to form the Electronic Lotto Agents Association of T&T.
Despite the powerful players involved, the association’s president Alan Campbell has never shied away from taking on the illegal industry.
Over the years, he said that he and the association had discussions with three police commissioners about the issue–former acting Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs, Acting Commissioner Stephen Williams, as well as current Commissioner Gary Griffith.
According to Campbell, one commissioner said he wasn’t aware of the issue, while the other said he didn’t have sufficient police officers to monitor the situation.
After writing to Commissioner Griffith last year, they were told by an acting deputy commissioner of police that a special squad was going to be formed to get something done finally.
That is yet to materialise.
