A recent Don Anderson poll has found that Jamaicans are sharply divided on the long controversial issue of gambling. 500 persons, aged 18 years and over, from all parts of the island, were surveyed between between May 3 and 14 this year. The poll was conducted on behalf of the Ecumenical Family Life Council in [...]
Following passage in both houses of parliament last month (March 2010), the bill to legislate casino gambling in Jamaica was signed into law recently by the Governor General, Sir Patrick Allen. Some of the next steps to be taken with regarding to casino gambling in Jamaica: Finance Minister’s appointment date notice in the Gazette Establishment [...]
In today’s Sunday Gleaner newspaper, economist Dennis Morrison joins the ongoing debate about legalizing casinos in Jamaica, and talks about the downside of casinos – the downside risks of casino gaming that one would have expected. Singapore is compared to Jamaica, as he takes a look at some of the problems associated with casinos being [...]
People’s National Party Member of Parliament, Phillip Paulwell, has expressed concerns that Jamaica may have to import labour for the casinos which will be established once casino gaming becomes legal here in Jamaica. He raised the point during yesterday’s meeting of the committee deliberating the Bill establishing the regulatory framework for casino gaming in luxury-integrated [...]
Speaking yesterday at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly luncheon at the Wexford hotel in Montego Bay, St. James, University of the West Indies Deputy Principal Joseph Pereira said that the introduction of casino gambling can do no more harm to Jamaica than has already been caused. According to Pereira, “I don’t [...]
The following letter to the Editor was featured in today’s Jamaica Observer newspaper: Dear Editor, On June 30, 2009 I wrote to you advising that the Government of Jamaica, insisting that an investment of US$1.5 billion including a minimum of 2,000 rooms was required to obtain a casino licence, was asking for too much and [...]
Just over a year since Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that legislation to introduce casino gambling will be brought to Jamaica’s Parliament within months, this is still to happen, and now questions are being raised about one of the two expected investors. Celebration Jamaica, which reportedly had plans to develop a 65-acre property in Rose [...]
Today’s Jamaica Observer newspaper features a casino editorial which speaks about ‘Preparing Jamaica for casino gambling’. An excerpt: “There is no doubt in our minds that as the Government contemplates plugging the deep hole in the budget, the introduction of casino gaming will become an increasingly attractive option. We, for our part, don’t pretend to [...]
A proposal by the Government and tourism interests to give all Jamaicans access to the large-scale casino gambling that is to be introduced in western Jamaica soon, has been blasted by University of the West Indies (UWI) academics who said the decision was not informed by the best interests of the country. The heated difference [...]
Dennis Constanzo, president of local developers, Palmyra Resort and Spa, is reportedly frustrated by delays in receiving his resort’s casino license. Prime Minister Bruce Golding had announced the award of licenses to Palmyra and Harmonisation Limited and the Palmyra earlier this year. Palmyra’s development is set to become the island’s first casino hotel, and will [...]