Casino gambling
The Freddie Kissoon column
Kaieteur News
November 20, 2006
Note: The following is a reproduction of a March 3, 2006 article. I believe the entire essay retains its relevance in the light of the rising debate on casinos coming to Guyana
The Government has announced that it is contemplating the legalisation of casino gambling. Only the PNC has reacted to the news. And though the party says it has not formulated policy on the subject, some negative comments accompanied the PNC's statement. For example, prostitution and drug related offences the PNC sees as side-effects of casino gambling. As sure as night follows day, the churches of all types of denominations will reject the operation of casinos in Guyana.
What is fundamentally wrong with this type of night life? Before we answer that, let's look at some social maladies that Guyana is afflicted with even though we do not as yet have the casino habit here in Georgetown. Guyana was identified by the US as one of the countries that condone trafficking in people. The US demanded immediate legislation, and got it. Guyana is cited as a major transshipment point for drugs leaving the Caribbean for US and Europe. Guyana, per capita, has one of the highest levels of homicides in the world. Prostitution is as visible in Guyana as in any other country where there is casino gambling. The point is we have reached a precarious stage long before the Guyana Government thought of licensing casinos.
Now let's look at the other side of the coin. What happens in countries where there is casino gambling? Suriname has casino operations yet Suriname has lower rates of violence and homicide than Guyana. Migration out of Suriname by its citizens is slower than in Guyana. Where are the deleterious effects of casino gambling across the Corentyne River? The Bahamas has the brightest economy in C aricom, and is one of the most stable countries in the world. Guyanese find the Bahamas a favourite place to migrate to. Bahamas has casino gambling. How has it affected the social life of the people there?
Holland is a small European country that has the most exotic night life culture in the entire world, including casino betting. Yet Britain, which hasn't got casinos, has a higher index of violence than its European sister country, Holland. The most compelling example is the United States. It is the casino capital of the world. If the casino culture was antithetical to national development, the US would have degenerated into chaos a long time ago. On the contrary, not only is the US the most buoyant economy in the world, but its casino industry is an enduring tourist attraction.
The churches will, no doubt, rally against legislation of casino gambling here. But governments worldwide have pursued a social agenda that they think is in keeping with the passage of modernisation. For example, in many religious societies, abortion is legal. The US, Italy and Guyana are three such examples. The UK and Canada have introduced homosexual marriages. The churches in those countries have been unable to stop such legislation. It becomes dangerous when government's agenda based on the introduction of greater freedoms for people are stultified by the religious desires of a few in society.
One of the fears the PNC has about the advent of machine gambling is tax-evasion. But why is this confined to casino owners only? This country never had a tax-paying culture. It is a remnant of the colonial era that we are paying dearly for. The self-employed and professionals cannot conceive of paying taxes to the treasury. This is not just a conscious form of cheating, which these tax-evaders hope to get away with, it is a state of mind in which the self-employed and the professional believe that, as part of natural law, taxes are an inherently oppressive thing.
It was no surprise that a wide group of professionals have successfully applied for an injunction against the Fiscal Amendment Act, 2003. Part of this country's financial woes is that there is no psychological courage on the part of successive governments to go after tax-collection, even though it is a strong recommendation by the World Bank. Why pick, then, on casino gambling? And even if tax-evasion accompanies such types of investment in Guyana, how many casino dens are we talking about that will come to Guyana that will result in a great loss of revenue?
There will be a huge exclamation against the sinful nature of gambling if casinos should come to Guyana. Why is this form of gambling so impure and not others? Gambling is now common place on the internet. And it is legal. Horse-betting is a lucrative sport in Guyana. One of the sad things about horse-race betting is that a majority of the people who buy bets are from the labouring classes.
Perhaps the most ironic laugh one can have about those who are against casino gambling is the existence of the lottery. In philosophy, we speak of form and substance. A religious person and a politician cannot be against the casino machine, because gambling is a vice, without simultaneously condemning horse-race betting and the lotto. This is form and substance in the analysis of a phenomenon. Horse-race betting and the lottery are pure forms of gambling, ask any you can find. There are secret gambling dens in this country, especially in the Chinese community. Maybe such practices will take on a legal face when the machines come to Georgetown.
Another claim against casino gambling is that it will encourage Guyanese citizens to spend their money in these nocturnal joints. This argument is dry and dull. But is also involves a lack of what constitutes reality. This argument explains everything and it explains nothing. You can cite countless forms of human activity on which people will spend their money. Why single out casino gambling? Take night clubs. Why can't a patron spend the same amount of money on a gay time in a night club as he/she would spend in gambling in a hotel? Those who want to see a future for this country need to understand that the world is moving on, and it will not wait for Guyana. If we are going to have modern hotels with casinos in them, then it is a form of investment we should welcome. I see no contradiction in a harmonious relationship between the existence of God and the operation of casinos in Guyana.