The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis has dismissed the Free National Movement’s proposed national lottery as a “gimmick”, joining some senior church leaders in opposing the plan.

FNM leader Michael Pintard announced the proposal on Sunday, positioning a state-run lottery as a new revenue stream to fund national development through a system overseen by an independent board.

He said the lottery could generate major payouts and operate alongside existing private gaming operators, pointing to jurisdictions such as the Dominican Republic, Curaçao, Saint Martin and Ghana as examples of similar models.

But Mr Davis criticised both the proposal and the examples cited.

“To talk about the National Lottery seems to me a gimmick, trying to grab headlines,” Mr Davis told reporters. “It just speaks of desperation, and it's really not for help.”

“For him to use the Dominican Republic as the model for his national lottery, when the National Lottery of the Dominican Republic was proven to be such a failure, with corruption and fraud and the like, that's the model he's going to do, you know, one has to question, why is he wanting to have a national lottery?

“Is it for the purpose of a slush fund, for corrupters and fraudsters as the model that he cling onto or embrace has proven to be? It seems to be gimmick, not thought out; the amount of Bahamians that is now in the gaming industry, how their lives will be impacted, how it impacts revenues for the country or any regards to the fact that that we collect tremendous amount of taxes from the gaming industry, it's rather odd that you want to turn the Treasury into a gaming house,.”

The proposal has revived a long-running national debate. Several administrations have explored the idea of a national lottery but failed to implement it amid political resistance and public concern.

The Christie administration sought to introduce a lottery through provisions in the Gaming Bill 2014, but the plan stalled in the face of opposition from religious groups and segments of the public.

That resistance was evident in the 2013 gambling referendum, when voters rejected a national lottery. Of the 81,239 votes cast, 59 percent voted against the lottery.

Critics of a national lottery have consistently questioned whether The Bahamas’ population can sustain such a system without undermining existing gaming revenues, while raising concerns about transparency, regulation, corruption risk and the social impact on lower-income households.

Supporters argue that a properly regulated lottery could generate revenue for public services, including education and infrastructure, while strengthening oversight of gaming activity.

Religious leaders yesterday renewed their opposition.

Bishop Walter Hanchell said a national lottery contradicts Christian principles and pointed to the outcome of the gambling referendum.

“We opposed and voted against the legalisation of the number houses and the lottery during the gambling referendum a few years ago, which the "NO" vote won,” he recalled. “Yet, former Prime Minister Perry Christie went ahead and legalised it, contrary to the wishes of the Bahamian people, after saying that he had no horse in the race.”

“Everything that the Church said would happen concerning the number houses has materialised. Gambling addicts have increased, while people continue to lose their mortgage, rent and food money every day to the number bosses. This is all wrong.”

He said gambling has contributed to financial hardship, leaving some unable to meet basic needs, and urged political leaders to focus on social support and economic empowerment instead.

Bishop Delton Fernander, president of the Bahamas Christian Council, said the proposal risks placing a heavier burden on lower- and middle-income Bahamians.

“It is sad that the country voted on it under a previous administration and it was a no, but yet it was still privatised in the country,” he said. “And here we go again, a party that is offering itself to be the government is offering something the country has said no.”

“The council has been adamantly against it. The data back then was showing that the base was not big enough to make it happen, and if that is not true, was it just so that they could privatise this to the select few? And so, the council has stood firm that we are adamantly against this because it mainly feeds on the poor and the middle class, and I can't see someone or a party offering to be government of all wanting to base their whole way of collecting funds for education and sports on the back of the poor and those trying to rise to the middle class.”

Bishop Fernander also said key safeguards remain absent, including rehabilitation programmes for gambling addiction and systems to identify compulsive gamblers, warning that introducing a national lottery without addressing those gaps would deepen existing social challenges.