Bahamas Legal Gambling
Gambling Laws and Regulations 2021. ICLG - Gambling covers common issues in gambling laws and regulations – including relevant authorities and legislation, application for a licence, licence restrictions, digital media, enforcement and liability – in 37 jurisdictions. A referendum on legalising web shops and establishing a national lottery was held in the Bahamas on 28 January 2013. Both proposals were rejected by voters. Gambling is currently illegal for Bahamian citizens. However, illegal gambling establishments known as 'web shops' allow betting on American lottery numbers.
- Legal Gambling and the Law. Welcome to the Legal Gambling and the Law website. In the ever changing online gaming environment it is always important for players and anyone involved in the gaming industry to be fully aware of any country specific laws and regulations that may apply to them when they are thinking of gambling online or setting up any type of online gambling related company.
- Therefore, the political leaders who legalized casino gambling in The Bahamas, and subsequently web shop gambling, and the church leaders who supported them, failed our nation.
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This signalled the beginning of a regulated Gaming Industry in The Bahamas, as the foundation was laid for the development of a licensing procedure for lotteries and gaming. In 1967, a Commission of Inquiry into Casino gambling was appointed by the then Governor, the 8th Baron Thurlow, with a view to: a. Enhancing The Bahamas’ Tourism product; b.
EDITOR, The Tribune.
Recently, I read a Tribune news story about the Chairman of the DNA, Mr Andrew Wilson, not being allowed to gamble in a local casino. Included in the news story is this incorrect statement: “The main reason he was escorted out of the casino was because the country’s laws allow for visitors to gamble legally in casinos while Bahamians and permanent residents cannot.”
The truth of the matter is that Mr Wilson was escorted out of the casino because he is a Bahamian resident, not because he is a Bahamian national. Section 50 of the Lotteries and Gaming Act prohibits from gambling in casinos ALL persons who are work permit holders (non-Bahamians), permanent residents (non-Bahamians), ordinary residents of The Bahamas (Bahamian nationals), and the spouses of these persons.
Accordingly, Bahamian nationals who reside abroad and are not married to a person who is prohibited from gambling in local casinos can come home and legally gamble in any casino in this country. Therefore, the reality is that some Bahamians can legally gamble in local casinos, and some Bahamians can’t. And some foreigners can gamble in local casinos, and some foreigners can’t. Why? Simply because the basis for the prohibition is residency, not nationality.
It is ironic that in his quest to gamble in local casinos Mr Wilson is claiming that the constitution gives him a right to the pursuit of happiness. However, the truth is that our constitution grants no right to the pursuit of happiness; and even if it did, the financially reckless and parasitic practice of gambling is not a viable route because more often than not it leads to misery, not happiness.
Former PLP cabinet minister Rev Carlton Francis was right when he said that gambling was no way to develop our new nation. His words were true then, and they remain true now. Therefore, the political leaders who legalized casino gambling in The Bahamas, and subsequently web shop gambling, and the church leaders who supported them, failed our nation. The evidence of their failure is obvious to all who have eyes to see.
PASTOR CEDRIC MOSS
Nassau,
January 5, 2017.
