PHILIPSBURG – 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.”
