The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

While driving on Wulff Road recently, I could not help but notice that a building that was previously occupied by a commercial bank is now occupied by a gambling house. In my view, it is a further prophetic sign of the new Bahamas. And it is a vivid reminder of how numbers gambling is destroying the economy of The Bahamas and the industry of Bahamians. Numbers gambling is an economic parasite that sucks the financial life blood of legitimate businesses, and it is an economic vice that destroys the industrial drive of Bahamians.

It is instructive to consider that on that very same Wulff Road and East Street location, where, for more than five decades, Bahamians went to deposit savings and receive loans to buy homes, operate businesses, educate their children, and for other worthwhile purposes, Bahamians will now be going to gamble away their hard-earned money.

The commercial bank that was formerly at that location, like other commercial banks, help people and the economy. The numbers house now at that location, and other numbers houses, harm people and the economy. Those who argue otherwise should pay attention to the gambling addiction signs that are posted around the country. They are a case in point reminder of the harm that gambling is inflicting on people. We now need signs to remind us of the harm that gambling is doing to the economy.

According to the Minister of Tourism, Dionisio D’Aguilar, the government estimates that Bahamians spent over $500m on gambling in 2017. Where did this enormous sum come from to squander on gambling? We know it did not come from discretionary income. The answer is obvious: Largely, those funds were diverted from the legitimate obligations and responsibilities of gamblers. Therefore, when we consider the demise of some local businesses and banks nowadays, numbers gambling should feature prominently as one of the chief reasons for their demise.

The gambling house that is now in the space formerly occupied by a commercial bank is a picture that’s worth a thousand words. It communicates in vivid colour, the contrast between the old Bahamas and the new Bahamas.

In the old Bahamas, while a few people gambled, most people sought to get ahead through discipline and industry; they worked, and worked hard, for what they wanted. In this new Bahamas, many try to get ahead through luck and chance; they gamble, and gamble hard, for what they want. In the old Bahamas, many were poor, but they were the working poor, so they had a good chance of working themselves out of poverty. In this new Bahamas, many who are poor are the gambling poor, so their only real chance is gambling themselves deeper into poverty. And in this new Bahamas, banks are being vilified while gambling houses are being glorified.

Meanwhile, the operators of gambling houses are doing their best to try to sanitise the vice of gambling. They refuse to call it by its true name “gambling”; they deceptively call it gaming. They spend money on paint and graphics to give their locations a professional, harmless look. They pay public relations firms to try to convince people to believe the lie that numbers gambling is a good thing for our country.

And they’ve even seduced a few preachers, who have gone the way of Balaam, to support the legalisation of numbers gambling. But none of those efforts can change what gambling is; it is an addictive, destructive vice that people need to be warned against and protected from.

Therefore, despite the newly introduced 5% tax on monies gambled by gamblers, the hundreds of millions of dollars squandered in numbers houses will not decrease. Actually, I believe the annual trend of increased gambling in numbers houses will continue. This is one of the economic characteristics of vices; their demand is inelastic to price increases.

Yes, this is the new Bahamas. And that gambling house that now sits where a commercial bank once sat is a reminder of this reality. However, I continue to pray that the Lord will give us a better Bahamas — a Bahamas in which we repent and return to God and to the national commitments laid out in our constitution’s preamble: self discipline, industry, loyalty, unity, and an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law. Others are praying for this as well. And we are all waiting for our Sovereign Lord to hear and answer our prayers (Daniel 4:35).

PASTOR CEDRIC MOSS

Nassau,

August 21, 2018