Casino gambling in Guyana
The Freddie Kissoon Column
Kaieteur News
December 16, 2006
What are the arguments against casino gambling? Before we confront that controversy, let's travel the world. The United States introduced casino culture in the late forties and since then it has become a part of the American landscape. What are the negative effects? Well it's hard to tell because since then, the US has become the most powerful economic giant in the world today.
The US is the place where most Guyanese migrate to. The bad effects of casino gambling have not traumatised migrating Guyanese because you don't see Guyanese in Las Vegas. The different religious denominations in the US are not on a daily routine of casino condemnation. Let's move across the border.
Canada is the next country of choice for migrating Guyanese; Canada has casino gambling. I don't see the adverse side effects of casino betting on Canadian Guyanese. Let's move across the Atlantic Ocean. In Italy where the Vatican is housed, both abortion and casino sports are legal. Are Italians any less religious since the arrival of these practices? In fact, St. Peter's Basilica is packed each Sunday. Has Italy declined in economic worth because of casinos? On the contrary, Italy is one of the better economies in the European Union. Now, let's go back to the question, ‘What bad will happen to Guyanese if casino fun arrives?'
Guyana and Jamaica are two of the most violent countries in the region, yet there isn't casino gambling in these territories. A cynic will say maybe a dose of such games may reduce the psychological tension of the citizens, thereby eradicating the penchant for violent desires. Guyana hasn't got casino tables and yet, Guyana has the highest AIDS rate for the Caribbean and this includes the entire geography of the sea, not just the CARICOM units. Guyana has no casino tables yet the statistics on incest, suicide and child molestation are on the increase. So what is so frightening if we introduce these games? Well here we go – the question of morality.
It is outside the scope of this column to get into a debate on what is morality. I concede that it is dangerous to argue for the relativity of values and there must be some moral absolutes in life, for example, non-racial values and gender equality for me are moral absolutes. But I would like to see an argument that informs me that casino gambling is morally offensive. What are the philosophical flaws in gambling? Well there are flaws but within the context of other legalised wrongs then casino gambling becomes tenable.
Let's untangle the arguments. One of the invalid premises of casino gambling is that betting is inherently wrong. Good, I don't have a problem with that. But why is gambling with a machine wrong but it is alright to gamble with a lotto ticket and a race horse? It seems clear to me that if betting is a religious and a moral offence, a country's government and a country's churches cannot ban casino gambling while retaining the legality of the lotto game and horse-racing. There is no way a polemic can be sustained for elaborating on reasons for a casino ban and the continued approval of these other forms of gambling; gambling is gambling, no matter what form it takes. But one can go further and say that the ban on gambling may be a violation of inherent rights. Why should society dictate how people spend their money? Let's translate this into a physical motion. John gets paid, he buys the finest scotch. Tom gets paid, he buys hundreds of lotto tickets. Harry gets paid, he spends it on horse-racing. Why then can't Mary go to a tourist hotel with her money and put it on a table?
If and when the casino feature is to be introduced, there will be tumultuous uproar from the churches, and we in lay society have to ask the churches for seriously defining arguments. And the churches have to be consistent. For example, in religious Muslim countries, casino gambling is not permitted but the authorities there are very philosophical in their deliberations; they ban gambling in general.
But for all our biting liberal critiques of Muslim societies, they do argue their case with philosophical precision. Let's be provocative. If casino gambling is wrong why is beauty contest permissible? Here you have young women striding on stage in full view of thousands of men, wearing almost no clothes. What is wrong with that? Nothing! But the Muslim states are more logical. They say that like gambling it is offensive, and they have banned both.
In western societies like Guyana, we have to retain the philosophical integrity in our debates when we decide on the introduction of casino gambling. We cannot argue based on faith and tradition without the resort to reason. My contestation is that there is no philosophical ground for banning casino tables while at the same time allowing other forms of gambling. But let's return to the theocratic Muslim states. Is the imbibing of alcohol a morally acceptable behaviour?
My personal view is that alcohol is an atrociously harmful chemical that should be left untouched (someone once told me God said intoxicants of any kind is the Devil's own wine) and those Muslim states that have banned gambling and beauty contest have banned the drinking of alcohol too. Here in the West our inconsistencies are so monumental that they dwarf in size the ice mountains of Antarctica. Alcohol drinking is a scourge in this country.
We perhaps have more rum shops per capita than most countries in the world. Thousands of wives and children are made miserable through the sale of alcohol. Should alcohol be banned? No. Not in the context of the economy. It is an exporter earner. It brings in money. And casino gambling will do the same. Guyana is getting poorer with each passing year. The new millennium has come and we are no better off. The prime real estate by the Luckhoo Swimming Pool has been bought up and a hotel will be built there. It should have casino gambling among other entertainment function so that the hotel can bring in a few bucks for this struggling economy. I wonder how much moral change religion brings about in people.