Island Luck CEO Sebas Bastian, who is vice president of the Bahamas Gaming House Operators Association (BGHOA), yesterday questioned the motive behind FML Group of Companies CEO Craig Flowers' suggestion that regulators limit the number of web shops per gaming license and called the idea "nonsensical".

The Gaming Board announced on Tuesday that gaming houses were granted official licenses after "exhaustive testing" by BMM Testlabs or Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), internationally recognized independent testing agencies that are registered with the Gaming Board.

On Wednesday, Flowers raised concerns over how many web shops each operator in New Providence would be allowed to have, in light of web shops being granted official licenses, asserting that there should be a maximum of 20 stores per license, and no more than 10 web shops should be operated with an agent license.

In a statement yesterday, Bastian said, "Craig Flowers' suggestion to limit the number of outlets each operator can have is outright nonsensical and leaves one to question his motive behind such a bazaar request.

"The [number] of locations an operator decides to open is an internal business decision based on demand and financial sustainability.

"This latest tactic by Mr. Flowers seems to be an attempt to level the playing field for self interests, but I can tell that strategy is flawed.

"...This industry is a fast evolving one and there are many contributing factors to being successful which are far much more than [number] of locations an operator has.

"I don't support Mr. Flowers' attempts [to] influence regulatory changes to suit a personal agenda or benefit.

"As operators we all run our operations differently and some are able to be successful with smaller and others with larger footprints.

"Now that we have crossed the major milestone of getting the final license, our focus at this time as an industry should be to get more problem gambling programs going and also begin planning ways to broaden the ownership opportunity in this industry for all Bahamians to benefit."

A day earlier, the BGHOA called on Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe to resist the urge to issue a new gaming house operator license and recommended a moratorium of up to 10 years on any new license being issued.

That came after The Gaming Board announced that consideration was being given to issuing an invitation for an additional gaming house operator license.

The board said the conditions of the invitation would be similar to its request for proposal (RFP) last year.

As a part of that RFP, applicants were required to pay a non-refundable, $100,000 deposit for a gaming house operator license, plus $30,000 for each gaming house premises license they applied for.

Nine companies applied. Eight were provided conditional licenses.

Island Luck, Nassau Games, Percy's Island Games, A Sure Win, Chances, Paradise Games and Bahama Dreams were beneficiaries of official license certificates.

Asue Draw was also named on this list, but the company has announced it will not renew its gaming house operator license for 2016-2017.

In a letter addressed to the Gaming Board on Wednesday, the association said all licensed gaming house operators were required to pay substantial retroactive taxes and a substantial penalty in addition to "funding the initial start-up and infrastructural costs of the domestic gaming industry".

Yesterday, Bastian said Island Luck will soon announce its plans to address "problem gambling programs" and ownership for all Bahamians.

Sloan Smith, Guardian Staff Reporter
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