The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY Wayne Munroe said yesterday that he would be surprised if more than half of the webshops in operation remain in business by December, with compliance costs likely to prove too hefty for many of them.

His statement came after Island Luck made 47 people redundant because their positions were not provided for in the Gaming Act legislation which came into force on Monday.

Mr Munroe said “four or five” webshops may be considering laying off people because they offer services not allowed for by the legislation.

“The Act calls for after Monday for you to only do business that you could get a licence for. A function of that is the law says these people can’t continue to do that work,” he said.

As the ramifications of the newly operational law spread, Mr Munroe said people are going to have greater appreciation for what is at stake when calls are made to shut down the entire sector.

“People will start to see the economic impact of the webshops that people were questioning. Imagine if the entire thing had been shut down,” he said.

Mr Munroe told Tribune Business over the weekend that four webshop operators exited the industry well before the Gaming Bill went to Parliament.

Now, he said, the operators have to make important decisions about their future as they are required to pay numerous fees in order to remain operational.

“Everyone now is assessing these licence fees, for instance the licence is going to be a minimum $32,0000 without including licence for rent, spa and electricity,” he said. “I’m not sure you have some web shops in small island communities where the income is going to justify their continued operation.

“The government hasn’t made provisions for lower licence fees in the Family Islands. So bearing in mind the licensing, persons are going to have to make business decisions about whether they close down. And if they do close down, there are far reaching economic consequences for that.”

Web shops that don’t pay their tax arrears by December 1 for the period July 1 to November 24, 2014, will be unable to obtain a licence.

Operators also have until December 8 to lodge sworn affidavits with the secretary of the Gaming Board, noting whether they will operate during the transitional period.

“By December 8, 17 days before Christmas, a lot of people, if their bosses can’t come up with the money, will find their jobs are no longer available,” said Mr Munroe. “If you end up with more than ten web shops (still operational) come December, I’d be surprised. And in that ten or 12, you are going to have four or five people who really don’t have much of an operation.”

“If a major operation closes, you are talking about hundreds of people losing their jobs. If not closing in December, then when they have to come out with the next big bunch of money in January, that might force them out.

“(The government) put these big bunch of bills right when people don’t pay bills, before and after Christmas.”