By Garwin Davis, Assistant News EditorTHE GOVERNMENT'S position on casino gambling has not changed but Industry and Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba is pointing to what she said is 'growing support' for the issue to be revisited.
"I have been seeing a lot of movement to suggest there's a groundswell of support in favour of bringing in the casinos," the Minister remarked.
She pointed out however that there was "nothing to indicate that the Government has, or is thinking of reversing its position ...it's just that I am sensing something building up out there."
The Jamaican Government, despite intense pressure over the years from lobbyists, has steadfastly opposed casino gambling. In 1997, prior to the general election, Francis Tulloch, then a junior minister of Tourism, surprisingly broke with the administration, publicly throwing his support behind casinos. He was quickly rebuffed by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who made it clear that his government had no intention of even considering the issue.
However, last year, Ms. Assamba, then Minister of State in the Ministry of Technology told reporters that she saw no problem with having the casinos. She argued that it was already taking place, albeit on a small scale.
Asked if she has now changed her position, the Minister didn't flinch: "No, I have not," she said.
"I still share the view. However, when I made the statement I wasn't the Minister of Tourism. Being the Minister I have to operate as part of a Government with certain responsibilities. The Government's position is not in favour of casino gambling and I have to support that view."
Critics however aren't convinced. They note that unlike what happened with Mr. Tulloch, nobody from the Government took Mrs Assamba to task for her support of casino gambling, suggesting the Patterson administration had softened its stance.
"The signs are there which would suggest that it is only a matter of time," said Dr. D.K. Duncan, political scientist and Gleaner columnist. "Gambling has become very much a part of the Jamaican psyche and the casinos will be no different," he added.
Edmund Bartlett, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on Tourism agreed. "I think its inevitable." "My own personal view is that the Government is trying to sneak it through the backdoor, considering the expected opposition from the Church," Bartlett stated.
He said the time was right to have a "healthy debate" on the issue, suggesting that the taking of a national opinion poll was not a bad place to start. "The JLP's position has always been against casinos as was evident during the 1980s," he reminded. Bartlett said: "While we still hold fast to that position, we are not saying we wouldn't listen to what the various interests have to say."
Tourism interests have consistently led the call for casino gambling to be introduced locally. Recently, John Issa, head of the SuperClubs hotel chain and a long-standing advocate of casinos said "I have always been of the opinion that, correctly introduced, casino gambling could be of benefit to Jamaica. It will be one other attraction which will make our tourism industry more appealing and productive."
Josef Forstmayr, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) said "if they were properly regulated, casinos could do wonders for this country. We already have all kinds of gambling going on. There's the lottery, horseracing and slot machines, I don't see how casinos would be any more harmful. As an organisation, our position has always been to support it."
However, members of the clergy are unmoved. "The Church cannot compromise its principles," said Bishop Herro Blair, head of the Deliverance Evangelistic Centre, Waltham Park Road, Kingston 11. "We don't need casinos. Our position will not change on that."
Asked how different casinos would be from the other gaming operations now in the country, he said, "It will bring the same kind of problems we see in Las Vegas, Atlantic City (United States) and other places that have casinos."
