Gaming hall rules to be issued imminently

Gaming halls that mushroomed all over the island’s villages throughout 2008, and which were abruptly closed down in a mass police swoop in August 2009, will know their fate in the coming weeks when the finance ministry presents its final legal amendments to the gaming laws.

In general, the amendments would regulate the place of gaming, the gaming machines themselves and persons who could enter such places. Gaming premises will also not be allowed to be in the vicinity of educational centres, football grounds or schools or any other place which offered education to children, and places of worship.

Operators have protested at the conditions, claiming they can be easily put out of business through rules such as the prohibition on serving food and drinks, lower winnings per machine, less machines inside the gaming halls, and even lower payouts to 85% from the originally envisaged 92%.

Much of the controversy stemming from gaming halls was that the establishments had been set up without any licences ever rolled out by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority. In 2006, the new licensing system for gaming machines was outlined and by the end of 2007, the LGA told operators they had to register their machines and file their applications for the licenses.

At this point, some 80 gambling halls had mushroomed all over the island. The enactment of Schedule V in the gaming law, the framework for the LGA to issue conditions for the licensing of gambling halls, was however missing a fundamental component: the licence itself.

After the 2008 general election, it appeared that the government did not seem keen to go ahead with the roll-out of licences, and soon after the establishments were closed down in police raids.