Joseph Pereira, deputy principal of UWI, advocates the introduction of casino gambling in Jamaica saying that casinos could not cause any more corruption because we are already corrupt. How does he know that we cannot get any more corrupt? He further added that casinos in other places have boosted the economy without affecting the morals (Gleaner September 25).

These shocking statements lacked any supporting evidence or reflected any studies and appear, on the surface, to be outlandish claims. Therefore, I got in touch with his office and he wrote to me explaining that the comment about corruption was made as a joke and received as a joke by the audience.

Pereira should remember the Jamaican proverb "what is joke to man is death to frog".

Contradicting another

But more importantly, he seems to be contradicting one of his professors, Ian Boxill, who said, "It has been argued that while many casinos may generate jobs, they create neither greater value nor a greater stock of wealth for the society, which is a central feature of economic development. Far from creating wealth, they may create many negative externalities. These are greater in urban areas where local people are allowed to gamble. The net impact of gambling tends to be less positive for urban communities because gambling does not typically stimulate the local economy, but rather exports social costs such as crime and pathological gambling habits" (Gleaner September 2).

The deputy principal either does not read Professor Ian Boxill or disagrees with him. Too many persons who promote casinos fail to understand that casinos are businesses and every business has the potential to fail. And there are many casinos that have failed. In other words, those who promote the introduction of casinos are like businessmen who go with business plans to their bankers with glorious projections. They are mere projections. It is like the budget produced by the Government in May which were over optimistic in revenues and underestimated the expenditures. This is what is happening again with casinos according to the likes of Pereira who is glossing the benefits with evangelical zeal while joking out the adverse effects.

I would suggest some additional reading for the deputy principal of UWI on the issue of casinos. There is a certain professor on casino gambling from a reputable University in Canada who visited Jamaica some years ago and spoke to church leaders, private sector leaders and tourism leaders. He gave a balanced presentation on casino gambling similar to what Boxill did. He laid out the conditions under which casinos would not make any sense for Jamaica. In addition, he gave approximately five conditions necessary before Jamaica should consider introducing casinos. One condition necessary was that visitors and other gamblers should have disposable income. So if tourists come here and leave with money that they could spend then they are prime targets for casinos. Therefore, it makes no sense to introduce casinos definitely at this time when we are discounting rates and will continue to do so for a while.

Horsing around

Similarly, it is cynical of the Government to introduce another opportunity for betting on horses when persons who are poor are witnessing diminishing purchasing power and have less disposable income to spend. The desperate poor will be deceived by the mirage of winnings only to experience that few will be enriched after this exercise and the majority impoverished. This massive re-distribution of wealth will make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

This is no time to be horsing around and joking about gambling while persons are hurting from the economic fallout.

Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of Rebellion to Riot: The Church in Nation Building. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com