A Replay Or New Start?
Added: Sept. 15, 2014
In case you missed the news recently, there may be a new contender for online casino players. This comes to us from none other than the Bahamas. As you know, the Bahamas is the home of the land based casino called the Atlantis Paradise. More on that in a bit.
The question of the hour is whether or not this is for real. This time, that is. You see, back in May of last year, a new law that would have effectively introduced online casinos sputtered out and failed. The odd thing about the 2013 online casino law is that it would have effectively banned locals from playing.
Huh? Yes, you read that right. As proposed back then, the online casino law would only have allowed tourists to play at the proposed Bahamian online casinos. The question of the hour is whether or not the new law being proposed has the same such restrictions.
One would certainly hope not. Thankfully, at least one member of Parliament has come out and voiced the same message. If you are a track fan, you may remember the name Leslie Millar who competed in the 1968 Olympics. Nowadays, Millar is a current member of Parliament. Observers of the process note that he looks to be supportive of the new law.
At the same time, he has come out pretty strongly against restrictions against local citizens. In an interview published by the Bahamian newspaper Tribune 242, he was quoted as saying: “…There are contentious parts of the Bill that I cannot support. We will not sit back and allow Bahamians who have gone out there and built an industry to be disadvantaged; that’s my greatest concern.”
Well spoken, Sir. If you read between the lines, it would appear that Millar is in fact a supporter of the new online casino law. He actually should be commended for coming out and making it clear that it is in fact hypocritical to allow online gambling for tourists but at the same time to make it illegal for Bahamians. That sounds like something from the Middle Ages, so kudos to Millar for speaking up.
So, in the meantime, Bahamians as well as online casino players from around the world will be keeping a close eye on this story to see how it plays out. Might there be a new online casino in the Bahamas? We will see.