The Trinidad and Tobago government has outlined plans to clamp down on illegal black market gambling by enforcing harsher penalties for those found to be involved.
On Monday, Trinidad and Tobago Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo fired a warning to illegal operators in his budget statement.
According to Tancoo, the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) contributes an annual GGR of nearly TTD3 billion ($441.9 million).
However, Tancoo said illegal lotteries offering bets and payouts facilitated by third parties on the NLCB’s legal lottery games “continue to impair the NLCB’s profit margins”.
Tancoo estimates revenue from illegal lotteries in Trinidad and Tobago amount to upwards of TTD9 billion a year, which is three times the licensed market.
As a result, he proposed increasing the penalties against illegal lotteries, beyond the existing sanctions in sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Gambling and Betting Act.
Section 19 would be amended to increase the penalty to a fine of TTD250,000 and imprisonment for three years, or conviction on indictment to a fine of TTD3 million and a prison sentence of seven years.
The plans are in line with the government’s Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Act 2021, which is awaiting its full enforcement. Currently, only parts I, II and X of the act have been proclaimed by the government.
Trinidad and Tobago looking to stay one step ahead
Tancoo also highlighted a new form of illegal gambling in Trinidad and Tobago, in which lottery tickets issued to players resemble a receipt from a grocery store, using the results from the NLCB’s online lottery draws.
In response to this, Tancoo proposed the introduction of a new criminal offence, which criminalises the receipt of a bet, issuance of a ticket or the payout of any proceeds from NLCB’s online draw results.
This offence would carry the same penalties laid out by Tancoo in the amended Section 19 of the Gambling and Betting Act.
Under the new offence, the NLCB’s evidence of its draw results and who it believes are authorised agents will be treated as prima facie evidence, allowing the police to act upon NLCB-provided information.
The law would also broaden the definition of “ticket” to cover “grocery receipts”.
Plans for a more efficient revenue transfer
Additionally, Tancoo said a lack of audits has led to the NLCB retaining “tens of millions of dollars” that should have been transferred to the government over the years.
To stamp out this issue, Tancoo proposed quarterly payments from the NLCB to the Consolidated Fund, the main bank account for the Trinidad and Tobago government. Currently, these payments are made on an annual basis.
NLCB would also be subject to financial limits expressed by the minister of finance for various expenditures, bringing in a “hard and fast budget” that would result in better revenue retention.
With an estimated illegal lottery market of TTD9 billion annually, Trinidad and Tobago’s government is hitting back.