Online Gaming Bill Expected to be Introduced in the Bahamas
A bill to regulate online gambling in the Bahamas could be introduced to the country's House of Assembly this week.
A gaming law was originally proposed in May 2013 which only allowed tourists to play online gaming including poker at land-based casinos as long as their home country also legally allows it as well.
Former 1968 Bahamas Olympic track participant and current Member of Parliament Leslie Millar said the gaming bill is on the House of Assembly's agenda commenting that it could be tabled and debated as early as this week. Millar appears to support regulated online gaming, however, he appears to be the strongest opponent to having any restrictions that do not provide the same liberties for Bahamians as they do for visiting tourists.
While we do not know if the bill about to be introduced is similar in nature to the May 2013 bill, we can guess that they might have similar clauses. Millar recently commented to the Bahamian newspaper Tribune242, “There are contentious parts of that 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.”
According to Tribune242, Millar further implied that the bill could be based off the interests of some of the casino operators in the Bahamas along with their desire to be for local Bahamians to be prevented from legally gambling online.
If a gaming bill passes before the 2015 PokerStars Carribbean Adventure (PCA), we could once again see many poker players enjoying a Sunday playing online in the lobbies at the Atlantis Paradise Island in January.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for more news as it happens in the Bahamas online gaming marketplace.
Image courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
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