Bryan to poll community view on lotteries

Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan has said he intends to commence a survey to solicit views on the introduction of a national lottery to stem criminal activity linked to the illegal numbers game.

“It’s time now either for us to get down serious about lotteries and penalise it to deter this kind of behaviour or [consider] the flip-side, which is to legalise it and actually have it regulated and protected in the right way,” Bryan said on Wednesday evening, when he appeared on the Cayman Compass Facebook talkshow The Resh Hour.

He said he will be meeting with his constituency committee to discuss surveys on topical issues in the community, one of those being legalising a lottery here.

Gambling is illegal in the Cayman Islands.

Bryan said following the “unfortunate” shootings recently, people have been associating crime with lotteries.

Harry Elliott, a 62-year-old retired prison officer, was fatally shot on 25 April. Police have linked his killing to an illegal numbers game.

Bryan agreed that the underground numbers game has “a lot of criminality,” but he said he wants to know how the public and his fellow MPs feel about legalising a lottery to help address the issue.

Governor Martyn Roper stated that illegal gambling is a problem in the community when he appeared on The Resh Hour last week.

George Town Central has been the site of a number of illegal gambling raids in recent years.

Bryan said the issue cannot be left “in limbo” and he wants constituents to guide him on the next steps he should be taking.

He said the lottery could be a “great opportunity” for people to make a living in a legal way “rather than them having a penalty or a criminal record… that affects a lot of people in a lot of different areas”.

He said, although the survey will be for George Town Central, he would like the whole jurisdiction to be involved. He said he would ask his colleagues to jump in as well since they are also guided by their constituents.

He stressed he was not looking to propose the legalisation of gambling and emphasised that a lottery and casinos are two different things.

With a lottery, he said, you can manage it and utilise the revenue in areas, like education, seniors or the environment.

“I personally believe that it’s time for us to think about whether we choose to allow it from a legal perspective,” he said.

Bryan pointed to allowing the sale of raffles by local organisations and non-profits as a contradiction.

Bryan said when he goes to Florida, where the lottery is legal, he purchases a ticket.

“I personally believe that if you go out to the public today, if you did a survey… I would say the majority of this country would want a lottery,” he said.

On the other side of the coin, he said, is the problem of gambling addiction.

“People lose their homes, they lose their families, their marriages, and they lose their valuables. But you put in mitigating factors… or if you don’t want that, that’s fine. But we have to address the problem,” he said.

Bryan declined to share his opinion on whether it should or should not be introduced.

Bryan said he hopes to put together the survey to run in the middle of summer when people are home, back from college and so forth “so I can really get a true sense of where people are thinking”.

The minister also said he wants to look at issues like seawalls, building heights, beachfront limits and construction projects in his survey plans.

He added that, similar to the vaccination raffle, he will be adding about $10,000 in prizes and incentives for the survey participation including Cayman Airways tickets and fuel vouchers.

However, he said, participants must be a registered voter to get involved.