By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
A prominent web shop operator said yesterday the parameters of what would constitute a national lottery need to be clearly defined as the term is 'very vague', arguing such schemes have not proven to be successful in the Caribbean.
Craig Flowers, the FML Group of Companies founder, told Tribune Business yesterday: "The term national lottery is very vague to us in the industry and that needs more description. If it is something that resembles a web shop operation then it will get a lot of resistance from existing operators. If it is something that is going to be done by way of a ball being thrown once or twice a week, I don't think there will be any resistance from the operators and they may even offer to assist in seeing that the government gets it off the ground."
Tourism Minister Dionisio D'Aguilar earlier this month told Tribune Business the creation of a Bahamian national lottery is "front and centre" in his mind, while warning web shops: "The status quo needs tweaking."
Mr Flowers told Tribune Business: "The first question in my mind is what is the objective? If the objective is to raise more funds then I don't think that a national lottery would raise the funds the government may be seeking. They have indicated that they are interested in privatising the lottery to be run by some other entity. A national lottery needs to be defined. What will it consist of?"
He continued: "For a layman like myself one would think that it would have the same opportunities that we in the web shop operations now have plus additional provisions will be in place for it to do things that web shops aren't able to do. It will cover more opportunities than the web shops and that will be seen as competing with existing operators. Is that the intent, I don't know."
Mr Flowers argued that national lotteries have not been proven to be successful in the Caribbean.
"It has been known for that type of operation, the calculation of the returns from such an operation is miniscule compared with the returns of a number game the web shops are doing. A national lottery is based on a large volume of people purchasing tickets. That pool is then taxed by way of paying its operational cost, paying its winning cost and then whatever is left from this amount there is a social or a government concern that will take away a tax from it. In most cases throughout the Caribbean in particular where populations are small, it doesn't work because of the fact that you cannot generate the pool size in order to make it attractive enough to pay these entities.
"That idea of a national lottery is certainly no threat to the web shop operations. We should endorse and assist government in establishing a national lottery if we can have some parameters as to what will define a national lottery and the way forward," said Mr Flowers.
Comments
DDK 6 years, 5 months ago
How do "web shop" operators get to be prominent? How dare this operator of something so malignant which is killing the Bahamian economy and the resources of the Bahamian people talk about resistance? The People in favour of a national lottery certainly do not want any assistance or endorsement from web shop operators. A privately run lottery would not be a NATIONAL lottery. If Flowers is not worried about a ball being thrown once or twice a week he should pay his taxes and butt the hell out.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 5 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
proudloudandfnm 6 years, 5 months ago
A national lottery has to replace the web shops entirely in order to be successful. The objective should be to relocate the hundreds of millions from the web shop to the lottery. Then use it to improve education and health.
Reality_Check 6 years, 5 months ago
Exactly!
ashley14 6 years, 5 months ago
What is a Web Shop?
DDK 6 years, 5 months ago
A web controlled by a big, fat, greedy spider!
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 5 months ago
"We should endorse and ASSIST government in establishing a national lottery"
Rope a Dope 2.0.
DDK 6 years, 5 months ago
"The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom.
It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the government of John Major in 1994.
All prizes are paid as a lump sum and are tax-free. Of all money spent on National Lottery games, 50% goes to the prize fund, 28% to "good causes" as set out by Parliament (though some of this is considered by some to be a form of "stealth tax" levied to support the Big Lottery Fund, a fund constituted to support public spending),12% to the UK Government as duty, 5% to retailers as commission, and a total of 5% to operator Camelot, with 4.5% to cover operating costs and 0.5% as profit. Lottery tickets and scratch cards (introduced in 1995) may be bought only by people of at least 16 years of age." WIKIPEDIA
So, perhaps in the Bahamas 40% should go to the Public Fund. No good causes or stealth tax, no duty. Simply the application of the proceeds to funds for the agreed ministries and/or departments. ABSOLUTE transparent accountability must be a prerequisite to the implementation of a Bahamas National Lottery. No crooks allowed. The initial prize money would be relatively small but would grow in time as the idea catches on.
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