Shadow Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest has called on the Christie administration to swiftly bring an end to the "transition period" for licensing the country's web shop industry, charging that The Bahamas could be willingly depriving itself of vital gaming tax revenue.

In a correspondence with Guardian Business, Turnquest said that the vague details of the recently announced extension to the transition period call into question the transparency of the licensing process and also leave industry employees in limbo regarding access to national insurance and banking services.

"During this transition period, are the web shops subject to gaming taxes. And if not, why not? If so, what is the supervision process? What is the due diligence hold up and is the government of The Bahamas being deprived of necessary revenue, or is this delay a way for the government to provide backdoor relief for the operators to compensate for the penalties they were made to pay up front in order to cure past activities?" Turnquest asked.

Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe, who has ministerial responsibility for gaming, earlier this week indicated that the transition period for the web shop industry had been extended indefinitely as the Gaming Board works to provide successful applicants with gaming house operator licenses.

Wilchcombe then admitted that a loophole in the legalization process could be interpreted as allowing web shop franchise owners to open new locations during this transition period. Wilchcombe said this is incorrect. While the Gaming Act 2014 does not address the illegality of the web shops operating during the government's transition period, those businesses still operating do so outside of the law until the Gaming Board licenses the companies.Turnquest chalked the loopholes up to "negligent oversight" on the Christie administration's part and questioned the lack of an explicit moratorium on new web shop locations during the licensing process.

"The delay obviously hampers the ability of the operators to progress and develop the industry in a transparent manner and with consistency," said Turnquest.

"The ability to negotiate above board banking relationships is also hampered by this delay. As for the employees, they cannot have any security of employment, with all that entails until there is a legitimate business enterprise. This means access to NIB, unemployment benefits and banking services are limited.

"The web shop operators, the employees and the government deserve an early resolution in the interest of transparency, accountability and fairness to all parties concerned," Turnquest stated.

Wilchcombe earlier said that the Christie administration had extended an invitation to members of the Free National Movement to be briefed on the licensing process. However, Turnquest indicated that the opposition had had no further briefings on the process, arguing that there is no need for further discussions until the process is concluded.

"The question must be asked: Why? What is the hold-up and does this indicate that the government was not prepared to regulate the industry even after rushing through the legislation? Once again this government is proving that they were and are not ready to govern," said Turnquest.

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