LOTTO Impasse – Ministers Square Off!

Belize City, Thursday, February 25, 2010

In yet another example of the dys-functionality of this Dean Barrow administration there was no BEL 3 draw Monday and no draw again the following Tuesday night.

Word soon leaked out that there would not only be no BEL 3 draw Wednesday night, but there would be no Lotto draw either. For the first time in nearly two decades not only wouldn’t there be any numbers drawn, but no official would say anything.

By Wednesday afternoon the media was reporting that Tropical Gaming’s license to operate the games had expired at midnight February 23^rd, and had not been renewed and that rather than risk breaking the law, the company which has had an unblemished twenty year record of operations was closing down.

The following day Thursday brought word that after hectic negotiations Tropical Gaming has reached an agreement with the Government of Belize and would soon resume operations. However, reliable reports today are that while there is an agreement, no one has as yet signed on the bottom line.

The big hold up it turns out is that Minister of Economic Development Hon. Erwin Contreras was opposed to renewing the license.  The sticking point is that Contreras may have “promised” the “Bradsledo” people that they would be able to get into the Lotto action too in Belize, but the Tropical Gaming people are saying that the country’s small market isn’t big enough for two to share.

Reports are that Cabinet was split down the middle with Patrick Faber, John Saldivar and Edmund Castro fighting hard against Tropical Gaming’s exclusive license being renewed and wanting Brads and its partner to have the right to also operate in Belize.

Tropical Gaming’s shareholders include several prominent UDP stalwarts, reportedly headed by Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington.

It is being said that Brads is having problems getting Boledo sellers, including his own Chinese countrymen to sign up for his version of the Boledo and Sunday Lottery because he is asking for as much as $40,000 as an annual licensing fee. They have been paying virtually little or next to nothing in fees the past several years to the Government of Belize so they don’t see why they should pay him that amount of money.

They also complain that it will still be a manual system, meaning that they will be selling chances from books, and that they are being told it will be at least three years before the game is digitized.

At last Friday’s House of Representatives meeting Contreras introduced an amendment to the Lotteries Control Bill that will give him the right to set lotteries fees and licenses and quite possibly abolish the Lotteries Control Board.

Some astute political observers believe that that may be a way of legitimizing certain practices for the minister, and could even be his retirement ticket.

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