Government softens on casinos
THE Government moved closer to embracing casino gambling yesterday with Prime Minister P J Patterson asking private sector leaders to provide the Administration with an analysis of the benefits it could bring to the economy.
“It wasn’t a yes or no response,” a senior Government official told the Sunday Observer as state officials and private sector leaders concluded day two of a three-day summit at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay.
“It was raised and he (Patterson) indicated that he would look at it,” the source said.
The casino issue was raised at yesterday’s session of the summit called by the Government to develop an “action plan” for attacking unemployment and reviving the floundering economy.
“People in the meeting felt it would enhance the tourism industry,” the Sunday Observer source said. However, Sandals chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, while supporting the proposal, warned that the country should not regard casinos as a panacea.
“The Government’s response was basically for the feasibility and contribution to be demonstrated before consideration,” the source said. “The prime minister wanted to know how it would work… the social issues, etc.”
Tourism interests have long argued that the introduction of casinos, a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, would enhance Jamaica’s tourism product and increase increase the intake of foreign exchange.
However, successive governments have opted against embracing the industry, particularly after a poll commissioned by the Labour Party Administration in the 1980s showed that the country was divided on the issue.
Patterson, in the past, had slapped down his then tourism minister, Francis Tulloch, for supporting the introduction of casinos. His signal yesterday was therefore seen by industry analysts as a softening of his position on the matter.
“It was almost expected,” said one analyst, “because we had seen indications inside the Government that the position was shifting.”
Two weeks ago, Stewart placed the issue on the table again when he called on the Government to rethink its position in order for Jamaica to stay competitive with cruise ships and other islands.
“Everybody has it,” he told journalists at a news conference held at his Kingston offices and argued that the existence of casinos would not mean that the country would be “going the way of the devil”.
“We are one of the few countries that do not have a casino,” Stewart said.
The consensus coming out of yesterday’s talks was for Jamaica to look at stand alone casinos. However, that proposal is unlikely to attract support from the Opposition spokesman on tourism, Ed Bartlett, who feels that any introduction of casino gambling should be accompanied by heavy investment.
“I think it is an option that should be explored,” Bartlett told the Sunday Observer, emphasising that this was his personal opinion. “But the Government should insist there is a maximum investment, ensuring jobs in construction and other sub-sectors of tourism.”
Any such project, he said, should be accompanied by rooms and other investment that would “guarantee the various linkages”.
The Opposition’s official position on the issue, Bartlett said, was that it was timely to revisit, but the Jamaican people should have a say in the decision.
Said Bartlett: “The country would also have to determine whether it could have confidence in the leadership of the day to embark on such as sensitive and major initiative, bearing in mind its many side effects.”