The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Tribune Business Reporter

The gaming sector throughout the Caribbean is rapidly evolving as multiple countries seek to overhaul their regulatory regimes in a bid to gain a competitive advantage, an international testing executive said yesterday.

Jose Carlos Figueroa, Caribbean regional manager for Gaming Laboratories International, told the Caribbean Regulator’s Forum and Caribbean Gaming Show that Jamaica, St. Maarten and Trinidad and Tobago are all in the process pf overhauling their legislation to comply with international best practices.

He said: “The Caribbean as a whole, it's changing. We have also visitors here today from Trinidad and Tobago, which is going through a process in which they're developing their Commission's regulations, and it's going to be probably two years in which they can sit here and share about the same experiences that some of these regulators are going to be exchanging with us.

"And it's not only Trinidad. You can see Jamaica's RFP (request for proposal). They're merging right now the Commission for racing and casinos with the lotteries. Same thing is happening in St. Maarten. British Virgin Islands is doing the same thing. They just created their commission and they're putting it together. So the Caribbean is evolving. The Caribbean is moving towards a more regulated environment."

Stuart Taylor, deputy permanent secretary for the Turks and Caicos Gaming Control Commission, said the territory has adopted new legislation for regulatory changes that have yet to take effect. He added: “The Turks and Caicos Islands Gaming Control Commission transitioned from a government department to a Gaming Control Commission on January 1, 2021.

"The transition started in 2016, when the Turks and Caicos Islands contracted with GLA to do a policy document on the gaming industry. And one of the deficiencies that the document revealed was that the gaming sector was not compliant with the new international regulations. So the first thing that the Gaming Control Commission had to do, based on the advice of our consultants, was to draft a new Gaming Control Bill.

"That bill was drafted in 2018, debated in the House of Assembly and that Bill was passed. Now, unfortunately, having the ordinance passed into law in 2018, it has not come fully into force. So the Gaming Control Commission is faced with a unique challenge. We still have to monitor the gaming sector, under the various pieces of legislation, until we fully bring the gaming control ordinance into force.

"Some of the challenges that we are faced with at the Gaming Control Commission currently is that we have to now amend the the former legislation in order for the new legislation and the former legislation to act in unison." Mr Taylor maintained that the previous legislation did not mandate responsible gaming practices. The new legislation makes it a requirement that casinos are responsible for helping vulnerable members of society deal with the adverse effects of gambling

He said: “What we would have done over time, we would have brought on commencement notices, brought on various sections of the gaming legislation. And the last section that we would have just brought on was the responsible gaming co-ordinator section. We would have had topics on responsible gaming. And that is one of the issues that the Commission is going to be paying keen attention to as we move forward.

"Over the years, the operators were not held responsible or accountable to ensure that they look out for the vulnerable within the population. And the new legislation is making that a mandatory requirement. So they must ensure that they have safeguards in place to mitigate against the risk of persons becoming vulnerable or susceptible to gaming without having the concern for the adverse ramifications that things like that could have on the family.

"So that is one of the key components that we are going to be paying strict attention to moving forward. Because, as regulators, we have to ensure that the legal requirements are fully complied with, as well as we have to look out for the social aspect of persons who are the patrons of the sector that we regulate.”