Dear Editor,

I wish to refer to the Business Section of The Nassau Guardian on Wednesday, April 8, and an article entitled, "Nine companies apply for gaming licenses".I wish to share with your readers some statistics I gleaned from the article:

o Nine companies together applied for 313 licenses.

o One company applied for approximately one third (121) of them.

o For Abaco there were 32 applications, double the present number. A few more dollars for the Treasury and less money for children's lunches.

Shocked my fellow Bahamians, but especially my fellow Abaconians?

I am truly disturbed by the amount of money collected annually by web shops - according to the Minister for Gaming, $750,000,000 plus - much of it from POOR Bahamians, resulting in thousands of children being deprived of basic needs like school fees, shoes, etc.

I realize it is too late to reverse the decision on gaming, but hopefully your readers will appreciate the negative impact on the social fiber of our Bahamaland.

- Patrick Bethel

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