Casinos may be at least six months away -Jagdeo
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
January 27, 2007
Casinos may be at least six months away and the bill was not sped through parliament to facilitate Buddy's International Hotel capitalising on Cricket World Cup 2007 but was meant to attract investment by large hotels in the country.
So said President Bharrat Jagdeo when asked about the haste in enacting the legislation to facilitate casino gambling though the religious community and sections of the private sector were calling for wider consultation.
Responding to questions at a press briefing on Thursday prior to his departure for Russia yesterday, he said that if negotiations for the construction of new hotels were being conducted at this point in time, the investors would need to have to look at the stream of benefits available to them when they do their feasibility studies.
They would want that as part of their negotiations for their hotels, he said, adding that "they would, probably, get a promise of a licence but they have to meet the standards before they could actually get a licence." Without mentioning names, he said that there were some new big hotels with recognised names around the world that are interested in investing in Guyana.
Asked when the Gaming Authority to manage the casinos would be set up, Jagdeo said that he could not say when that would be likely but it would be after Cricket World Cup and prior to the opening of a casino. "I can't tell you when that would happen. I can't tell you when an actual casino may be opened up because it may take six months to get up to the service requirement.
It may take a bit longer with some new hotels," he said.
He said it was "not true" that the legislation was meant to accommodate Buddy's International Hotel for Cricket World Cup.
On the issue of why there could not be more consultations, Jagdeo said, "prolonged consultations do not mean that you would come up with a better product."
He said that the religious community was fixed on its position in relation to gambling and he could not expect them to change their views, which were based on their scriptures. And the government knew and understood their position. After his meeting with leaders of the religious communities, which they requested, during the period of the debate on the enabling casino legislation, Jagdeo said that the religious community better understood government's position.
Contending that government consulted with the religious community, Jagdeo said that Prime Minister Sam Hinds led those consultations. However, the religious community was not well represented at a hastily called meeting and several of the leaders have said that the consultations were inadequate.
On the other hand, he noted that there were some extremes in the private sector where some were saying to open the casinos to everyone. The government, he said, had to find a middle ground and for the stimulating of private investment in the country. "But we were going to meet the religious community half or three quarters of the way. We could not please everyone," he said.
The contentious bill was passed on Monday amid much opposition from the Baha'i, Christian, Hindu and Muslim communities in Guyana. Some sections of the business community also feel that the legislation is discriminatory in that it caters for foreign guests. Though President Jagdeo has said that Guyanese are debarred from using the casinos it is not clearly spelt out in the new law.