Howard Hamilton - HORSE SENSE I HAD A dream that one day the poor, underprivileged youth of my country could find hope in a programme to develop their character and self worth through sports.
It was with this dream in mind that when the late Michael Manley asked me to sit on the National Sports Council - the policy-making body for the development of sports - I grasped the opportunity, with fervent hope that I would be able to realise this dream and make a positive contribution to the improvement of the lives of my young countrymen and women. I was assigned the role of Chairman of the Finance Committee and my first task was to raise funds for a new track at the National Stadium. If my memory serves me right, this was estimated to cost in excess of US$600,000. My mandate was to seek contributions from the private sector. I quickly learnt that only a few companies supported sports and they all advised that their budgets had already being determined and earmarked for specific projects. The funding of a track at the National Stadium did not appeal to them.
Years before, I had visited Sydney, Australia and was awestruck by the fantastic opera house, which was built in the vicinity of the Sydney Harbour. My understanding is that most of the cost of this architectural wonder had been covered through a "scratch and win" game. I also recall that Peter Lashley and a group of Barbadians had introduced a "scratch and win" game for the funding of their development programme for cricket.
SIMILAR PROGRAMME
Some years before, Allan Rae, Franz Botek and myself had attempted to introduce a similar programme for cricket development in Jamaica, and the then chairman of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (which was at that time unified with the Jamaica Racing Commission) Mr. Dennis Lalor did not encourage the idea. I remember his words distinctly, "This is nothing more than a one-armed bandit in paper form." At that time, "one-armed bandits", now dressed up and called slot machines, were illegal and there were frequent raids and confiscation of these machines that proliferated in a number of bars.
Having failed to make any impact on the private sector for the funding of the sports track, I reported to then Prime Minister, Mr. Michael Manley, who was Chairman of the National Sports Council, that in light of the private sector's reluctance to fund this particular project and the fact that those involved in sports had their own agenda as to the areas to which they would contribute, it was time for the government to establish its own independent, permanent funding programme for the development of our youth through sports. I then proposed the setting up of such a fund using a "scratch and win" game, in much the same way as other countries had done.
Mr. Manley was excited by the idea of this special sports fund and mandated me to put together a plan and report to him. This was the genesis of the Sports Development Agency, a company capitalised with $5 million contributed mainly by me and a number of other like-minded friends, who although sceptical at the time, were persuaded to join me in this attempt to get our sports programmes on a sound financial footing.
When the plan was presented to the Prime Minister, he endorsed the idea and exhorted us to ensure that the fund was established in such a way, and I'll use his words, "that the government couldn't touch it."
At the beginning, we had some concerns about the government's position in what could be described as a lottery, since they had banned the government-run lottery in the early 1970s under pressure from the Church. Mr. Manley's response to this concern was that he would deal with that eventuality when it came, since he had promised at that time that the government would never run another lottery, but had made no promise that the private sector could not do so.
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The company began in 1991. The Bank of Nova Scotia was part of the distribution system and also assisted in the redemption of prizes. An overseas company was contracted to supply the tickets, the technology and the training of our staff. Those early days were not very happy ones. Bank of Nova Scotia came under severe pressure from the religious community and a number of church organisations placed their business elsewhere. I suffered personally when the church of which I was a member for over 40 years said that I was an embarrassment to them and I would not be welcomed in their congregation.
But we were convinced that our cause was a good one and persevered in the face of tremendous challenges and personal sacrifice. Eventually those efforts paid off and would help to bring unprecedented glory to Jamaica's sport, in ways that we had hoped, but even far beyond what we had imagined.
Next week, we will look at how the Sports Development Agency evolved into the Jamaica Lottery Company and a multi million dollar source of the funding for local sport.
Howard L. Hamilton is a former Chairman of Caymanas Track Limited and is the current President of the Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association. He can be contacted at howham@cw
jamaica.com.
