Merger Of Gaming Entities Has Commenced

Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the merger of the island’s three State-run gaming agencies has commenced with the entities now in the process of moving into one building.

The entities – the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC), Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC), and Casino Gaming Commission (CGC) – are being combined to form the new Jamaica Gaming Commission.

The amalgamation, aimed at strengthening the monitoring of the gaming industry, is expected to be completed by year-end.

Minister Shaw said the entities will operate under one roof, “even as we work out the legislative arrangements to make them into one commission.”

“So in that example, four become one, and there is a whole range of others (state entities) that we are going to be dealing with in similar fashion,” he added.

He was delivering the keynote address at the closing ceremony for the Management Institute for National Development’s (MIND) Regional Public Sector Leadership Development Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on July 20.

Of the over 200 public sector entities, 84 are to be closed, merged, subsumed into central Government or divested to the private sector.

Mr. Shaw said he has signed off on a time-bound plan for the engagements, which will be submitted to Cabinet, in keeping with the Government’s public sector transformation programme.

The Minister pointed out that the transformation exercise should not be viewed as one that will result in job losses, noting that the divestment of Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) to Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) in March this year, has seen an increase in employment and greater levels of investment.

“I have already seen the transformation that is taking place at Caymanas Track as a result of the divestment (as) they have employed more people,” the Minister pointed out.

“They are about to plough over $1 billion of investment into the development and expansion of the track,” he added.

Additionally, he said, SVL plans include accepting wagers from members of the Diaspora, which would make the enterprise “bigger and better.’

He urged that as the Government rolls out the transformation programme in the pursuit of excellence in service delivery, each public sector worker should endeavour to be the “one person (who) can make a difference.”