Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, who has Cabinet responsibility for gaming in The Bahamas, told Guardian Business that web shops, together with the casinos, see more than $1 billion a year in turnover.
The initial estimate of web shop earnings by the Ingraham administration, according to Wilchcombe, was $400 million a year. The gaming minister said that figure is now $700 million, which is the unaudited number.
He said that there were a number of surprises when the government began digging into the industry: More than 100,000 people participate in gaming every year, for example, and there is one operator who has 59,000 names in his database and can tell who played and how often.
"We were shocked," Wilchcombe said.
The numbers alone explain why the government had to regulate the web shop business, Wilchcombe said: a $700 million a year turnover and the government was getting none of it.
In terms of what the government stands to take in even before taxes on earnings, Wilchcombe pegged the figure at about $30 million: back taxes, licenses and fees as set out in the Gaming Regulations 2014 and Gaming House Regulations 2014.
The minister said he had met with a group of 16 web shop operators on Monday night, to go over the rules for those companies that decide to continue in a regulated environment. Those who choose not to continue, he said, will have to shut down. It may even come down to the government confiscating equipment in order to ensure that another unregulated environment doesn't simply spring up to replace the old one.
Wilchcombe also addressed the number of licenses: The government has pegged eight as a manageable number, but he admitted that there is no maximum number of licenses. Still, when pressed, he was clear.
"You will not have 16 licenses," he said bluntly.

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