Legislate and consult. These are the two things members of the gaming industry believe are necessary to take the sector forward. They also want Minister of Finance Colm Imbert to meet with them to "clear up erroneous information" the minister has about the industry.
Unofficial statistics indicate that the sector earns between $7 billion and $10 billion annually. However, there are concerns that the State has failed consistently to collect much taxes from the industry.
Imbert, in his mid-term budget review, announced plans for "better collections of taxes due from the gaming and gambling industry under existing legislation." The Finance Minister told Parliament only three of the estimated 250 private members' clubs in the country paid the statutory deposit and the tax on the gaming machines is seldom enforced.
The minister said he was concerned that while the number of gaming machines have increased, tax collections had not and the Government will be launching a concerted effort to improve tax administration of the sector.
Imbert had previously said the Government was hoping a crackdown on gaming houses and members' clubs that don't pay taxes would boost the State's coffers by half a billion dollars. However, stakeholders told the GML Enterprise Desk unless something is done about monitoring of the industry, collections will always be low.
Secretary of the Union of Members Club and Lottery Workers–Cindy Mohammed (UMCLW)–told the GML Enterprise Desk legislation proposed by the former People's Partnership Government would have gone a long way in ensuring better monitoring of the industry. She admitted that not everyone in the industry pays taxes.
"We know the Government could get substantial revenue from the industry but there is no proper monitoring in place."
According to Mohammed, once a year owners of some establishments go to court to get their licence, but some of them have found a way to get around the system.
"Some of them register ten machines. Someone will come and check the premises and will verify ten machines, but what happens if they add 50 or 100 machines immediately after? No one checks until the next year when the process is repeated."
Mohammed said sometimes owners remove some of the machines from their premises prior to inspection.
President of the T&T Members Clubs Associations, Sherry Persad, said clubs that do so are not members of the association which has clear rules and guidelines. She has 48 members and they all operate under existing regulations and are FIU compliant.
Although she could not provide figures, Persad dismissed claims that the industry earns between $7 billion to $10 billion a year. She estimates that the association's members pay $100 million in taxes annually, including taxes on tables and machines, for employees and NIS. Members' clubs also pay a $500,000 bond to the Treasury.
A major concern for the association and its workers, she said, is the lack of legislation governing their operations. She said this has resulted in a "mushrooming of members' clubs which we know nothing about; they are not our members."
Persad estimates there are now approximately 175 members clubs across the country. Minister Imbert puts the figure at 260, but Persad dismissed that saying, "not all members clubs are casinos so, while all have licences, not all are involved in gaming."
In 2015, the former People's Partnership Government proposed a new Gambling, Gaming and Betting Bill which sought to regulate the industry via a Gambling Control Commission. The legislation would have empowered the commission to check into the licensing of any business, including probing applicants, associates, key employees, place restrictions on gaming by minors under the age of 18 and set up codes of conduct for dealing with patrons.
It also would have introduced a rehabilitation fund to assist gambling addicts and their families and a development fund to channel monies to arts and culture.
The gaming industry has been in a tenuous situation for several years, in 2006, then Prime Minister Patrick Manning faced the wrath of the workers and their families when he announced plans to shut down the industry. He was faced with a massive protest outside his Whitehall Office and, in a brief meeting with the protesters, told them: "Our decision stands but we are going to have a phase out process. We are going to engage in retraining exercises for all those working in the industry so there will be no job displacement."
A decade later, the industry is still in existence and workers are still finding themselves having to protest to protect their jobs. The latest was last Friday when Parliament met for the Finance Minister to unveil the mid-term review. The workers were concerned that the Government was going to increase taxes which, they say, would put their jobs in jeopardy. However, there was no increase and they breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Persad said the industry–which is 30 years old–is properly regulated but not legislated and this adds to problems. To get a licence, clubs must satisfy the requirements of the Registration of Clubs Act. They are also regulated by the Board of Inland Revenue and audits are randomly done to ensure all taxes are paid.
Private members' clubs are listed as businesses under the Proceeds of Crime Act and must register with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to be fully compliant. The FIU conducts random audits to ensure clubs are registered and compliance programmes are in place to ensure employees are trained.
In its 2015 report, the FIU said only 69 private members' clubs were registered with the unit and they were "the least compliant in the implementation of customer due diligence measures training and record keeping."
Persad said her association wants the industry to be "regulated by legislation," but they also want meaningful consultations.
Mohammed admitted there is urgent need for legislation as there is now a proliferation of gaming establishments and "foreigners are now taking our jobs."
"There is nothing we can do about it because we have no job security and no protection."
"We have been lobbying for 15 years for legislation. Our compliance is one of the strongest. We know every person who comes through our door. The area for money laundering is very slim, because each member has to fill out a form so we have their information. We have a code of ethics and all members must be registered with the FIU."
The Ministry of Finance has set up a committee headed by Phillip Marshall to look at the industry. At a meeting with the Committee in February, Persad said they were told that among the proposals on the table is a "limit on players, meaning he or she should play a certain amount of money and if they want to play more, they should apply to do so."
Persad said this is unfair to the players.
She described gaming as entertainment, explaining that it was why people go to Las Vegas.
The committee has also proposed that members' clubs submit a 66-page due diligence document to get their licences, and that all employees–including security officers–be licenced and their employment approved by the proposed Gaming Commission.
Persad said the economic downturn is already affecting the industry.
"Patrons not coming as before, they cut back."
She is calling for Imbert to meet with industry stakeholders to get the facts and better understand the industry.