Black Immigrant Daily News

If you are betting or gambling on a cruise ship while it is in international waters or you are participating in a raffles staged by a church, service organization or voluntary associations to raise funds for their programmes, then Cayman’s Gambling Act does not apply to you. You may therefore not be charged with any gambling offences.

However, if you are found betting in a local bar or throwing dice for stakes on the roadside or trying your chances at a common gaming house, you may be guilty of an offence under the Gambling Act and subject to higher fines and/or imprisonment under the proposed changes to the Gambling Act. The application and enforcement of the Gambling Act and amendments (if passed), however, may prove to be problematic because of misunderstandings as to what is a “common gaming house” and the fact that you only have to be present in one for the police to presume you committed an offence.

Common gaming house

To illustrate how wide net caught by the definition of “common gaming house” is, the Gambling Act defines it as follows:

‘common gaming house’ includes any place kept or used for gambling, to which the public, or any class of the public, has or may have access, and any place kept for habitual gambling, whether the public, or any class of the public, has or may have access thereto or not, and any place kept or used for the purpose of a public lottery.

By this definition, any place that the public has access to might be deemed to be a common gaming house depending on what police suspect is going on there or who frequents the establishment.

If convicted of playing a game for stakes in a local bar, barber shop or clothing store and that place is said to be a common gaming house, you should note that the proposed amendments to the Gambling Act state that the current fine of ten dollars will be raised to two thousand five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term of six months, or to both.

The Gambling Act goes further to imply that, even if you are not playing a game of stakes but you are found in a common gaming house, or found escaping therefrom, you shall be presumed to have been playing therein. In other words, if you decided to check out a new bar or get your hair cut at a barber shop considered to be a common gaming house, you may find yourself in trouble on your way out the door if the venue is raided by the police one night for gambling. This may happen because the Gambling Act presumes that you were gambling at the location unless you can prove otherwise.

In addition, if you are the owner of one of these establishments, the new amendments to the Gambling Act mean that, if convicted of an offence of permitting the relevant place to be used as a common gaming house, the fine will increase from a mere four hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term of four years, or to both if the proposed amendments are passed in Parliament.

Unintended effects

Once the above changes to the Gambling Act are implemented, it is suspected that the police will ramp up their enforcement of the provisions of the Gambling Act, resulting in more raids, fines and arrests.

However, since some mom-and-pop shops and other small local businesses are said to be common locations for lottery sales (sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the owners), any overzealous enforcement by the police may have the unintended effect of disproportionately targeting small Caymanian business owners.

This may happen because law enforcement may conclude that certain types of small businesses mentioned above “fit the profile” for a common gaming house, leading some owners to be wrongfully accused of allowing their place to be used as a common gaming house. With Cayman being such a place, such wrongful accusations could lead to the destruction of reputations and loss of income, which are undesired outcomes for an innocent business owner who may already be struggling financially.

Public education necessary before changes made

For the foregoing reasons, including the room for confusion about which places might be deemed to be common gaming houses, policy makers are encouraged to hold public meetings as soon as possible to explain to members of the public the consequences of illegal gambling or playing a game for stakes in a common gaming house or simply being present in one at the time of a police raid.

Doing this may deter persons from using other people’s establishments as common gaming houses without the owners’ knowledge and may deter illegal gambling in general.

As an alternative to the proposed changes to the Gambling Act, policy makers should also consider whether lottery activities should be legalised and become regulated rather than remaining as offences.

Such regulation could include requirements for periodic inspection, subjecting relevant establishments to anti-money laundering rules and forcing them to have a minimum number of security personnel on staff and on the site at all times (to prevent crime and keep patrons safe).

Under a regulatory licence infrastructure, if the government charges gambling licence fees to vendors, this may also add much needed revenue to government coffers. This could be allocated to education, the environment or other area where funding is lacking.

Notwithstanding these suggestions, Cayman must ultimately get to the root of the problem i.e., the real reason that illegal activity is occurring in the first place. Without dealing with this important point, some form of illegal activity will always occur.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 10, 2022) — The Caribbean Disaster Management Agency (CDEMA) is seeking to assist in the enhancement of the National Disaster Management Programme in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Ms. Elizabeth Riley, the agency’s Executive Director, during a recent visit to the federation said her presence was indicative of CDEMA’s intention to help.

“The intent of my mission is really to deepen my familiarity with the specific disaster risk management issues which are facing St. Kitts and Nevis and importantly to have a conversation around how the CDEMA Coordinating Unit can better support St. Kitts and Nevis in addressing disaster management issues.

“The agency CDEMA is a regional organisation of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and we have 19 participating states of which St. Kitts and Nevis is one,” she said.

According to Ms.  Riley, the agency’s mandate is about supporting member states during times of disaster once a specific request is made to the agency.

She added that CDEMA has a broader resilience-building agenda outside of emergency times.

“We work with a diversity of partners to look at how we can strengthen our ability to withstand the impacts of the hazards that we face and also to recover from those hazards in the shortest possible time,” she noted.

Ms. Riley also spoke to the 2022 to 2027 CDEMA Strategic Plan and how it would St. Kitts and Nevis.

“We have just launched the 2022 to 2927 Strategic Plan for CDEMA and we are already in discussions now with countries to understand how we can better support the national level programming, and we talked through a range of areas including search and rescue. We discussed areas for training through the CDEMA system, and also how CDEMA can leverage its partnership with other partners around the region to support the programme here on Nevis and across the broader federation,” she said.

The CDEMA official used the opportunity to encourage residents to maintain a close relationship with the national disaster management agencies.

“The Nevis Disaster Management Department is here to serve you and we encourage you to reach out, stay connected but also volunteer because the work of the national office is the work of all of us and we all have a role to play and I encourage you to link with your national office, offer your services in whatever way you can because this is what will make us a more resilient people,” she said.

During Ms. Riley’s visit to the federation, she met with various government officials including Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security in St. Kitts and Nevis; as well as Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Disaster Management in Nevis; Mr. Brian Dyer, Director of the Nevis Disaster Management Department (NDMD); and Mr. Abdias Samuel, Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Several families residing at premises at the corner of Fleet Street and Tower Street in central Kingston have been left homeless by a fire.

Residents say four homes and a Honda Accord were destroyed. They say the quick actions of the fire brigade prevented a larger catastrophe.

The fire team responded and give support from York park Half-Way tree, Rollington town, and Trench Town.

Firefighters say it’s not clear what started the fire.

One resident identified as Diana Watt said she was at her home when she heard her grandson raising an alarm that the house was on fire.

She said citizens heard the calls for help and called officials from the fire department.

NewsAmericasNow.com