Party for Progress Member of Parliament and faction leader Raeyhon Peterson welcomed the release of the recent gambling study, which sheds light on a problem that has been impacting far too many lives in society unchecked, for too long.
“The unregulated local gambling industry, and its impact on our local population, is
something this faction has discussed and debated since 2020,” Peterson said,
referencing the lottery booth count that PFP had undertaken in 2021 and the faction’s
2020 request to the SER to conduct research on the topic.
Then-faction leader Melissa Gumbs had asked the SER in her request to answer three
questions with their research: the number of lottery booths in St. Maarten prior to
Hurricanes Irma and Maria as compared to the number in 2020; the socio-economic
impact on the communities in which these lottery booths are placed; and the support
available to those who may suffer from gambling addiction in these communities.
“When the SER published the results in 2023,” Peterson stated, “the information was
deeply concerning. I have personally experienced the fallout of a population that
struggles with gambling addiction, with persons asking me to help them pay rent or
simple expenses, only to find out that they spent their money in the casino or at a lottery
booth. Now that this study has been completed by the Ministry of VSA, via the TWO, it’s
my sincere hope that we see action being taken to address the issue.”
Peterson pointed out that the SER’s 2023 report focused not only on the public (mental)
health aspect of gambling but also on the responsibility of the TEATT ministry to ensure
compliance with the law from both gambling license holders and the Government. He
noted that the SER had revealed that there were no limits on the number of sales points
a lottery license-holder could establish and that TEATT was issuing lottery licenses
indefinitely, whereas the lottery ordinance speaks of a temporary term of five years.
The most recent study, as reported in various media outlets, reports that six percent of
St. Maarten’s population are at moderate to high risk of gambling harm. That’s not just a
statistic, Peterson notes; it’s neighbors in local communities, stressed families, and
individuals who suffer in silence. If 70% of citizens identify gambling as a serious issue,
then it is obvious that this is not only an individual problem—it’s a community problem.
“The SER report highlighted that there were approximately 6.9 lottery booths per square
meter,” Peterson stated. “This, on top of the abundance of standalone casinos, is not
something to be proud of; it’s a giant red flag that this faction has been waving since
2020.”
Peterson noted that the SER report, having been released in March 2023, did not
receive much attention from the previous administration but that he was encouraged to
hear that the current Ministers of VSA and TEATT were working to address the issue
via their respective ministries and hoped that there would be some inclusion of funding
to begin addressing the risk of gambling addiction amongst the country’s young people,
thus including the Ministry of ECYS in the overall approach to combatting the pitfalls of
the gambling world.
“Ultimately, the SER also noted that not much is done to make these entities enact
some form of corporate social responsibility by trying to deter gambling addiction,”
Peterson concluded. “In most countries where gambling entities exist, they are made to
contribute financially to initiatives that treat gambling addiction and educate citizens
about the risks of gambling. My stance, PFP’s stance has always been clear: it is time
this happens in St. Maarten, too.”