Stephan Tang Nian, chairman of the Gambling Control Commission has said if the Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Act is fully proclaimed, the commission will be able to regulate gambling venues and protect people from bad actors in a largely unregulated industry.
In a conversation with Business Day in June, Tang Nian said the commission will seek to collaborate with the industry, to regulate it to the point where the industry is fair and crime-free.
However, while the commission is doing everything it can to establish itself, there is one thing missing – full proclamation of the act which aims to protect consumers, minors and vulnerable people from being exploited; prevent gambling from being an avenue for criminal activity and give the gambling industry an opportunity to contribute to the economy by creating employment and collecting taxes.
Tang Nian, whose 30-year experience in finance includes eight years of leadership in the banking industry, expressed concern that, at this point, where the commission has no regulatory powers at all, there may be bad actors that need to be weeded out. He said with the full proclamation of the act, the commission will be able to perform one of its main functions – to trust, but verify everything that is happening in gambling and betting venues.
Trust but verify
The Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Act was partially proclaimed in August 2021, giving allowances through parts I, III and X of the act to establish the Gambling Control Commission and recruit officers. Under the act, eight board members, including Tang Nian, were appointed in 2022.
Since then, the commission has been building itself from the ground up, getting everything needed to become a full regulatory body – from a building, to staff, to equipment and programming for monitoring establishments and accounting.
Tang Nian said the legislation that currently governs the industry was drafted back in the 1960s.
“These industries have grown here, but the legislation was outdated. So as we operationalise the commission, we will come to a point where we will advise the minister that we recommend the rest of the act be proclaimed.”
Under the current regulations members clubs and bars with betting machines are required to pay taxes to the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) under the Income Tax Act, but should the 2021 act be proclaimed fully, these venues will have to pay taxes directly to the commission.
Tang Nian said this raised a red flag for the commission, because in researching the industry, it had noticed disparities between what is being paid in taxes and what should be paid.
[caption id="attachment_1094075" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A woman takes a chance on a slot machine at the Jade Monkey casino in Tobago. - File photo by Ayanna Kinsale[/caption]
He said the structure of the tax was put in place in 2013, and in 2021 the taxes were doubled. Under the 2021 act, casinos or private members' clubs must pay $120,000 per year for every roulette table or electric roulette table and $2
