Dear Editor,

We here in The Bahamas have much to be thankful for. The ravages of Hurricane Sandy swept over our beloved nation but apart from two reported hurricane-related deaths and some minimal property damage, we fared well. Of course, one death is too many but when you look at other nations in the region, particularly Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti, we came out okay.
Once we would have cleaned up and assessed property damage and the economic impact of Sandy, the nation's attention will turn to the proposed national referendum on web shop gambling. This referendum was one of the vital planks on which the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) was elected during the general election on the May 7, 2012.
The "playing" of numbers locally has been around for generations. Back in the day, local number houses were household names. There were other houses but four dominated the landscape.
Daily, patrons congregated at the headquarters of those houses and a bag filled with 100 numbers was thrown into the air and caught by one individual. The ball in the bag that he/she held on to was declared the number for the day in that particular house. Winners would be paid off and the rest was the house's take. Runners, known as number men/women, were paid from the same and the balance went into the coffers of the house operator/s.
With the advent of technology and the Internet, web shops began to proliferate. Today almost on every corner there is a web shop where computer terminals are housed and patrons are able to play a variety of balls in a large number of foreign-based houses. Chicago, New York, Tri-State and Miami are but a few of the same. It is reputed that patrons are able to play in as many as 38 assorted houses for as little as 25 cents.
There are four major local web shops. It is alleged by one of the operators that some $60-100 million is generated each year by the various web shop/house operators on a collective basis. They employ in excess of 3,000 individuals and pay national insurance contributions. In addition, they pay annual web shop licensing fees to the Ministry of Finance, which is headed by none other than the prime minister of the day.
Before licenses are issued there are the mandatory inspections by assorted government agencies, inclusive of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, headed by the commissioner of police. Keep in mind that the COP is mandated to enforce all gaming laws and regulations.
Web shops and number houses are here to stay. The bogus positions being adopted by The Bahamas Christian Council and some denominational churches are ludicrous in the extreme, despite their futile attempts to put a religious spin on them. Well has it been said: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."
The role of the church is to promote spiritual, not religious, values. Religiosity, if there is such a word, is literally, killing mankind. It is no different here in The Bahamas. If the collective church was to actually seek to promote and instill spiritual values here in our nation, we would be much better off for it. What does it do instead?
It pontificates that gambling is morally wrong and that it is an addition which leads to: marital discord; the destruction of families; the encouragement of a "gimme" attitude and laziness, and the list goes on. Even some medical professionals have sought to weigh in on what they call "the medical challenges" of gambling addiction.
While all of the above may have some slight merit and the opponents are "right" to oppose legalization (they are already legal in my view); they have absolutely no right to seek to impose their views, however strongly they might believe in them, on mature adults.
Let us call a spade a spade. If you or I have discretionary resources, why should we not be able to play a favorite three or four ball? We work for our income and no entity, be it church or state, should have the moral or legal right to tell us how to spend it. I would concede that they could suggest to you or I the perceived dangers but not to determine our choices.
As a trained lawyer and an expert on gambling/wagering and executive director of The Institute for Public Policy, I will immediately mobilize that organization to support and promote the legalization and regulation of web shops and number houses. Public meetings and debates will be organized in short order so as to bring clarity and to allow the widest possible national debate on this long vexing and abnormal societal perplexity.
Our politicians are in no position to drive the upcoming debate and discussions because by their own admission, most if not all of them would have received financial favors and or political contributions from the web shop and house operators. They are "compromised" on the issue.
Many in the collective church should also continue to seek to be like Nicodemus, who went to see The Master under cover of darkness. He was an established member of the Sanhedrin Council but dared not be seen with Jesus Christ during daylight hours.
Fiscally, The Bahamas is challenged. Some in the church say that we should trust in God to bring us out of it and that it is only a matter of time before things turn around, economically. Yes, as a believer, I too subscribe to trusting in God. As a trained economist, I too accept the proposition that things will soon turn around.
What I do not accept, however, is the stark fact that a handful of individuals, a few politicians,a couple of police officers, allegedly, and their cronies should be hogging up tens of millions of dollars on an annual basis at the collective expense of the playing public. Huge personal wealth is being generated in an untaxed and unregulated industry within our midst. Clearly, this is unsustainable and cockeyed.
The government really does not need to hold an expensive referendum but it is seeking political shelter from any potential fallout. Be that as it may, the church in many forms or the other, conducts and condones raffles and other games of chance on a frequent basis. Many of our pulpit warriors, tin gods and big bloomer pontificators, are alleged to be creased right up in numerous vices.
They are hardly ever able to find their voices to speak about real social and moral ills, but have come out hollering about gambling? Ye hypocrites!
To God then, in all things, be the glory!

- Ortland H. Bodie Jr.

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