-Gaming Authority chairman

Needed legislation to regulate the growing gaming sector is still to be put in place, according to Chairman of the Guyana Gaming Authority, Roysdale Forde, who says that a draft bill has been sitting at the Chambers of the Attorney General since last year.

Forde told Stabroek News that the Authority is anxious to have the bill tabled in the National Assembly before the end of the year and he noted that the absence of the legislation is resulting in great losses to the country’s treasury.

He said that a letter was penned to Attorney General Basil Williams asking for his assistance in ensuring that the bill is presented. He said that in his response, Williams agreed that the bill was important. However, he added that he along with the other members of the Authority met with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel on no less than seven occasions and learnt that the bill “is still under some process of review.”

Forde told this newspaper that he knows that Finance Minister Winston Jordan is very eager to have the bill brought before the National Assembly and he would be aware that members of the Authority have been meeting with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel.

“There is an urgent need for legislation that could properly regulate all forms of gambling in the country… the treasury is losing considerable amounts of money by the fact that operatives in the industry are not properly regulated because of the limitations of the legislation…,” he stressed.

According to Forde, if the sector is not properly regulated, it could expose Guyana to money laundering sanctions after all the work done by government to limit the country’s exposure.

Stressing that this may be an