Web shops will not be able to continue offering sports betting to their customers once the government regularizes the web shop industry, according to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
Web shops, including but not limited to Asue Draw, Island Luck, Chances and Paradise Games, offer sports betting for a variety of matches and events such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The Gaming Bill permits "domestic players", who are defined as ordinary residents in The Bahamas, permanent residents and work permit holders, to participate in "numbers games" with licensed web shops.
A numbers game is defined as a game made available by the holder of a gaming house operator license "in terms of which any single number or combination of numbers ranging from 000 to 999 may be wagered upon by a player at odds, which are fixed at the time of conclusion of the wager".
Gaming regulations have not yet been made public.
While responding to questions surrounding some web shops expanding their services to include sports betting and in-house financing, Maynard-Gibson said, "Certainly if that is happening, that is certainly something that will undermine the regulatory regime and it will have to be addressed.
"We will have a well-regulated jurisdiction. There is no compromising in that at all."
Maynard-Gibson said she was not aware web shops are facilitating sports betting, but once the government regularizes the industry, those establishments will only be allowed to conduct business in accordance with their business licenses.
A web shop could be granted a gaming house agent license, a gaming house operator license or a gaming house premises license, according to the amended Gambling Bill.
The Nassau Guardian reported in May that some web shops were expanding their range of products after Asue Draw advertised its new branch called "Asue Draw+Spin" on Robinson Road.
Shortly after the revelation, Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe suggested the move could be dangerous.
He said web shop operators should have waited until the government started to regularize the industry before expanding.
Wilchcombe was specifically referring to sports betting.
However, he suggested web shop owners are being "prudent businessmen" by trying to "push the envelope".
"But we are not going to be dictated to by what has happened," Wilchcombe said.
"We are going to be dictated to by what is a workable situation for an environment where we are going to have steady growth and development."
As it relates to the in-house financing programs some web shops offer, Prime Minister Perry Christie has said it is that "underground economy" that led him to go against his word on the failed gambling referendum and move to regularize the web shop industry.
The Gaming Bill is expected to be tabled next week.

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