With the fight to keep web shops from closing headed to the Supreme Court today, the jobs of hundreds of Bahamians are hanging in the balance.
It comes at a time when the unemployment climate remains challenged.
In the face of an overwhelming no vote in Monday's referendum on gambling, Prime Minister Perry Christie last night ordered all web shop gaming to stop immediately.
Ahead of his announcement yesterday, web shop operations across New Providence were open and reported "normal activity".
The majority of workers in the web shops The Nassau Guardian visited, predominantly in eastern and southeastern New Providence, were unwilling to speak.
The few who did said business was normal and they at the time had no major concerns of being shut down anytime soon.
As Christie met with his Cabinet to discuss the outcome of the referendum and the road ahead, numerous customers were in the various web shops gambling.
A manager of Asue Draw on East Street said she had not been given any special instructions and she and her staff reported to work.
Asked whether she was concerned about authorities closing down her place of employment, she responded, "I'm not too concerned. As you can see things are normal and there is normal activity."
But hours later, Christie released his directive.
An Island Games security guard, subcontracted under I.C.S. Security Concepts, said earlier in the day he thinks the web shops should be given a grace period to allow employees to find alternative employment before being closed down.
However, he said his job was not directly under threat as he could be transferred to another establishment.
"I came to work this morning and while there is not as many customers here as usual, people are still playing and business is still reasonable," said the guard.
Action
The prime minister warned last night that all violators of the directive to end web shop gambling would be prosecuted.
While there was no immediate statement from police last night, Assistant Commissioner Hulan Hanna is on record as saying police are prepared to begin shutting down those businesses once the directive was given.
Although he did not reveal what action the police force would take if the referendum fails, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade said a plan was being developed whether the gaming referendum passed or not.
"We are listening and watching with interest and we are going to be guided in a proper way," he said earlier this month.
"But we are very alert as a team as to what is happening and what is being discussed and we're listening to our people very, very closely."
On the question of whether web shops should be regulated and taxed, 30,767 voters voted yes while 48,012 voted no.
According to unofficial results, which were released yesterday, 45 percent of registered voters voted.
Abstain
The Guardian also interviewed several Bahamians, who abstained from voting in Monday's referendum. Their reasons ranged from a lack of interest to the belief that the referendum process was flawed.
Kevera 'Yoda' Turnquest, 21, a student who returned home from college in the United States, said he was disappointed that neither campaigns provided empirical evidence to support the claims, adding that the government also failed to fill in those details.
"I was hoping Bahamians were smart enough to realize this and it seems a lot of people just went out there [Vote Yes rallies] because it was free entertainment," he said.
"It was not an important matter to me, but Bahamians should have the due diligence to see stupidity when it strikes. The commercials were trying to push you in one direction, but where was the education process?"
James Hanna, 25, a certified public accountant, agreed that the government did not fulfill its promise of an education campaign and said, "I didn't feel like I should enable the government to do [nonsense]".
"They made the process confusing and didn't make sense to me," said Hanna, who noted he would have voted no to web shops and yes to a national lottery.
"If you're giving people options you should tell them everything about the options they have. We should not go into [anything] blind. We should have gathered all of the information and I didn't have enough information to get involved in the process."

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