The recent news that the President has assented to (but not yet proclaimed) legislation to enforce an immediate ban on slot machines has resulted in protests from the industry and some significant controversy. The Prime Minister has also made unequivocal statements that gambling is a serious social ill and that the casino industry will be closed down. The industry itself has indicated that it has 7,000 employees and pleads for regulation of social evils rather than closure.
Right at the outset let me state that I fully agree with the Prime Minister that gambling has no redeeming features and is a major social ill. The consequence for those who become addicted to gambling is always ruin because it is a mathematical certainty that you will lose in the long run (and probably in the short run too). So you would think I support the immediate ban on slot machines, but unfortunately it's not so simple.
In the first place let's get clear that this is not a religious issue. Gambling is a social problem like smoking, alcoholism, prostitution and abortion. Abortion is certainly a religious issue and perhaps also prostitution (sins of the flesh) but smoking, drinking and gambling in moderation are not sins at all. Using the children's school book money on gambling is a sin and so is greed. But the consequences of smoking and drinking to excess can be just as serious.
It should be recognised that the Government's policy has been schizophrenic when it comes to gambling. The Government has supported horse-racing and instead of taxing it has actually subsidised it. The Government has licensed racing pools and collected taxes from them for years. The Government allowed the import of gaming equipment like roulette wheels and slot machines and taxed them.
The greatest crime of all however was that the Government sponsored a National Lotteries Board (founded in 1968 and ripping off the public ever since) which advertised heavily and paid huge fees overseas to foreign companies to manage new electronic games. It is this massive marketing of Play Whe and other games that created a nation of gamblers. Horse-racing was bad but Play Whe and other electronic games are legalised theft from the poor and ignorant.
It was way back in 1776 that Adam Smith wrote in the Wealth of Nations, "Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery and you lose for certain; and the greater number of your tickets the nearer your approach to this certainty." This form of voluntary taxation has been used by the Government to extract millions of dollars from the poor and ignorant, some of whom are reduced to support from the social safety net. All of this was well known when the Government started to encourage gambling.
There is nothing inherently evil about the slot machine that should single it out. You are mathematically certain to lose in all games of chance or sport betting because of the control over odds and probability. Hence horse-racing, Play Whe, black jack, bingo etc are all bad. Indeed, raffles are frequently used for good causes and raising money for charity or other worthy causes but they are gambling just the same. The WICB have set up a lottery to help finance the development of cricket but been refused permission for the lottery in Trinidad and Tobago.
I am disappointed that we have got ourselves into a position where casinos can describe themselves as an industry and remain unregulated as members' clubs. While I have agreed all forms of gambling are bad and chastised the Government for its role in encouraging gambling, I have to admit that some forms of gambling are less harmful than others. It is also unfortunate that employees in this industry may be displaced. However, there is currently full employment and there is no industry less productive and more useless than gambling. It is not a justification of the business to say other things are worse or that the industry employs people.
Just as we closed down Caroni and BWIA there is a need to close down the gaming industry. The ban on the import of gaming equipment is a necessary start. It is also necessary to have a comprehensive policy to ascertain what may be allowable (bingo and horse-racing?) and why, and a plan as to how the transformation will take place and over what period. The difficulty is that having collected taxes on the import of a gaming machines the Government must now justify why those machines cannot be legally used. A transition may be required.
I hope the future of gambling becomes an issue for debate in the elections and a clear mandate is given to the new government. I will be happy however, to see a Trinidad and Tobago without casinos and a government that does not finance (through the Betting Levy Board) the importation of equipment from Amtote or (through National Lotteries) the importation of equipment and technology from G-Tech.
I hold the Government fully responsible for the moral quagmire that we find ourselves in, but give credit to Prime Minister Manning for unequivocally sounding the death knell of this wholly non-productive and socially undesirable industry. |
World Casino Directory 
Gambling Forums 
