NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Gaming Board for The Bahamas is the statutory body charged with regulating all licensed gaming and activities incidental thereto. The Board issues this statement to address recent public inquiries regarding appointments to the Cabinet and the concerns expressed by some members of the public in relation to those appointments.
The Gaming Act does not create any bar or qualification for appointment to the Cabinet. The Act restricts and regulates who may hold the types of licences provided for thereunder, not who may serve in Cabinet.
The Act prescribes disqualifications from holding licences or financial interests in such licences. Under the Gaming Act, a Cabinet Minister who has a “financial interest” of 5% or more in a licence is disqualified from holding such an interest. The Act does not state that such a person is disqualified from being a Cabinet Minister. Rather, it provides that the person is disqualified from holding that financial interest.
“Financial interest” is defined in the Act. It means a right or entitlement to share in profits or revenue; or a direct or indirect interest in the voting shares, or voting rights attached to shares of a company.
The definition specifically excludes any passive or indirect interest held through shareholdings in companies listed on a recognised stock exchange; any entitlement to revenue from ordinary commercial contracts for the supply of goods or services to a licence holder; and any indirect interest held through a fund or investment where the person holding such interest has no control over the investment decisions made in respect of that fund or investment.
The Board is bound by the strict statutory confidentiality provisions contained in the Act and is therefore unable to divulge specific details regarding the internal affairs of its licence holders or records relating to individual licences.