The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

THE government will gain as much as $70 million from a legalised numbers industry, according to organisers of the vote “yes” campaign yesterday.

A substantive dollar amount, however, depends on how the industry will be taxed, which the government has yet to clarify said Paul Major, former Bahamas-air general manager who is also a part of the vote “yes” coalition.

At the same time, the coalition announced at the offices of Philip Galanis at Sandyport, that former FNM politician Theresa Moxey-Ingraham will officially speak for their committee.

The coalition in the coming weeks, intends to run education initiatives in not only Nassau, but in Grand Bahama and Abaco. Scores of coalition workers are soon expected to canvas homes in Nassau.

“What we do know,” Mr Major said, “is that a survey that was done last May with some estimation of what the secondary players and operators are generating the number is somewhere between $370 and $400 million. A lot of people say that’s the net profit, far from it. If it is $400 million, there is a lot of recycle playing.

“So the real numbers being played is probably somewhere around $100 to $120 million a year and the net after pay-outs from winning and after operating expenses is probably somewhere around $60 to $70 million max. So that is what the government will have and really the question is in the regulation and how the government will tax. Whether they will tax gross, gross margin after payouts or net profit.

“If it’s a net profit which is really what it should be it would be $20 million which is 15-20 per cent of $60 to $70 million.”

While opponents of numbers legalisation have argued that the move would negatively affect crime in the country, Mrs Moxey Ingraham said the coalition believes otherwise.

She said: “There is no overwhelming data to prove that gaming is significantly detrimental to the society at large; no reports of gang activity, disorderly conduct or major burglary and theft. On the contrary, around the world, and even in our vastly ‘illegal’ numbers environment, gaming is one of the most secure and best regulated industries.”

With that, she said it would be foolish for any government to turn a blind eye to regulating the industry.

“Today numbers have become a significant factor in the economy.

“In other words, today, these web shop operators and all their direct and indirect employees, all their patrons and winners, all their charity recipients, indeed even the government which complicitly awards business licenses and receives social security payments – are operating outside of the law.”