Friday, October 6 2006
APPROXIMATELY 15,000 workers will be on the breadline should Government seek to shut down all of the country’s casinos and private clubs — inevitable if payments to the house are banned as Prime Minister Patrick Manning warned would soon happen in his Budget speech Wednesday.
Angry casino sources said yesterday that no payment to the house means no revenue and thus, all casinos would have to close. Sources also said that the immediate ban on slot machines, each of which costs $12,000 to $94,000, could already cripple the local gaming industry as these represent a significant percentage of the casinos’ revenue.
Yesterday in an immediate reaction to the PM’s announcement and in a bid to safeguard their employees’ job security casino owners announced they had sought legal advice on the matter.
Group Manager for Marketing and Human Resources of the Island Club Casino, Grand Bazaar, Charles Sookhan yesterday, after a two-hour intense meeting with other casino representatives, disclosed that casino owners and operators had already spoken to at least four senior counsels on the matter. The closed-door meeting which was held at Ma Pau Members’ Club at Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook commenced at about 2 pm and ended shortly after 4 pm. Twenty five casino and gaming club representatives were said to be in attendance.
Annette Richards, spokesperson for the Ma Pau Members’ Club said that the Association of Members’ Club of Trinidad and Tobago was very concerned over the erosion of the freedom of choice and the threat to the job security of its staff.
“Staff who are concerned of their livelihood and who have their families to take care of. Most of them are female workers and are single parented mothers,” Richards said.
Richards revealed that the casino fraternity was taken aback when there were no consultation forums held between the Government and the gaming industry prior to the Budget presentation. “We are always in favour for regulation and we are always open to discussions,” Richards said.
Giving a breakdown as to the number of workers to be affected, Sookhan said, “We estimated there are 7,000 workers who would be directly affected and about 8,000 indirectly, who include vendors and suppliers.”
Sookhan said that in the interim, the casinos would operate as usual once Government allows. “We are awaiting word from our legal team and in the meanwhile business would run as usual,” Sookhan said.
A casino owner from Port-of-Spain, who wished not to be identified yesterday told Newsday that one would spend about $10,000 a year to have a slot machine licensed. “Think about it, at an average — a casino has about 150 slot machines and to have each of it license would cost about $1.5 million. All that money goes towards the Government. And now with the Budget that figure and millions more maybe billions, would be losses incurred on the Government’s behalf,” the casino owner said.
“Don’t mention the thousands of people who would be out of a job. Most of them, all they know about is dealing and managing a casino. They depend on their salary and tips from the casinos. This is a disaster. We, the casino owners are losing, the workers are losing and also the Government is losing out,” he added.
The Caribbean boasts over 114 casinos spread throughout its various islands. In Trinidad there are about 12 major casinos and in Tobago, three. Yesterday a visit to several casinos showed that people were still using the slot machines.
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