It should have happened a long time ago but, as the saying goes, better late than never. So, Prime Minister Bruce Golding's decision to end the charade and formalise casino gaming is welcomed.

There are a number of issues worthy of notice and discussion as the government moves to grant licences for these potentially lucrative additions to Jamaica's tourism product. Not least of the issues is the less than thoughtful and surreptitious approach of the previous government in arriving at a place from which Mr Golding felt comfortable and morally justified in carrying on.

Indeed, we were long concerned, and often complained, about Jamaica's political leaders being held hostage by religionists who set up ramparts against casinos on the supposed grounds that gambling is immoral. Over time, the opposition eroded as so-called gaming lounges mushroomed with their electronic betting machines.

Nothing wrong

However, Jamaican governments refused to go the final step of authorising casinos - until, that is, the decision by the former administration effectively granted a casino licence to the Tavistock Group, which plans a major development at Harmony Cove in the parish of Trelawny. That, initially, was to have been a project for 4,500 rooms with an investment of up to US$5 billion. Tavistock, though, would receive the licence for an unlimited amount of gaming machines if it built a minimum 1,000 rooms.

Nothing was wrong with that, except for the fact that it was done in the dark, without the public being told and that there was an unwarranted exclusivity to the planned licence. Under the arrangement, no competitor would have been allowed to establish a gaming facility 10 miles, as the crow flies, from the borders of Trelawny. In other words, heading west, no casino would have been possible in the parish of St James, Jamaica's major tourism centre, up to the Sangster airport. Towards the south, any area before Christiana/Mandeville in Manchester would have been precluded. And so on.

This newspaper, of course, does not believe that casinos provide a panacea to Jamaica's economic problems, but holds that as additions to the tourism product they can, and will, enhance the country's ability to earn income and create jobs. Nor do we share the view that casinos are necessarily socially bad, or that they breed corruption and vice.

Transparency required

We are clear on two things, however: that we must be transparent about how we go about their establishment; and two, that we must implement best-practice regimes for their oversight.

First, we insist that the Government declare a formal policy for the granting of future casino licences, beyond the use to which taxes from them are to be put. Such a policy must include the regions/communities that will be given priority for casino investment, perhaps as catalysts for development. And, the process must be transparent, allowing broad public participation and debate.

The whingers and anti-casino lobby often draw old myths about the crime, violence and skimming associated with casinos, harking back to the days when mobsters were in control of them. Times and circumstances have changed. Casinos are, today, mainly controlled by major corporate entities, often listed companies. In any event, many countries have developed the skills and expertise to police casinos.

Jamaica need not reinvent the wheel. We can learn from them.