The Tribune

By Khrisna Virgil

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie yesterday said that a major announcement on the highly anticipated referendum to legalise web shop gaming in the country is expected to come within days.

And with that announcement, he said, the UK consultants hired to advise the government on the best course of action in pursuing the matter would also be flown into the country.

Mr Christie would not speak further on the referendum.

The Christie administration was recently heavily criticised once word spread that the government did not obtain a comprehensive report from the consultants despite promises by the Prime Minister that it would be made available to the public. He said the government had only received several letters in correspondence.

Legal web shop gaming has drawn mixed opinions among Bahamians. At the fore is the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and web shop chiefs. The government has insisted that it will remain neutral until Bahamians vote on referendum day.

On Tuesday, Whatfall.com CEO Deyvon Jones urged those turning out to the polls on December 3 to consider the affects that a “no” vote could have on the 3,000 persons employed by web shops across the country.

“The only thing that would happen,” said Mr Jones, “is those people who work for them (corporations) would be out of a job and those places who rent, they can’t pay their mortgage. Those air condition people who supply those stores, they don’t have their gig. Cable Bahamas they lose revenue, BTC they lose revenue. All these things is what would spin off of these 3,000 people who would show up to NIB for unemployment money. NIB is now getting less revenue because you take these 3,000 jobs away where money was being pumped in.

“If we look at everything morally then there would be a lot of things that change in this country. We won’t drink. We won’t smoke. We won’t do all these other types of things that people like to do.”

However, the church has mainly opposed web shop legalization.

Cedric Moss, senior pastor of at the Kingdom Life Church called on the government to make gaming in the country, even casino gambling illegal.

Speaking about the effects of gambling, he said: “You just have to Google and see the negative effects gambling has on cities like Atlantic City which allows gambling. Bahamians gambling has a different affect on the Bahamas than tourists gambling in the Bahamas. What Bahamians don’t realise is that many tourists who gamble in our casinos don’t want casinos in their cities.”