Gambling industry to be shut down, says PM

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has insisted that the gambling industry in the country will be shut down and has assured that the thousands of workers who will be affected, will be given alternative employment.

„I guarantee them we are not putting anyone out on the streets, we will close the industry in such a way, there will be training and to ensure that every workers in the industry is given an alternative job,“ said Manning at a meeting at the Caura community centre following a walkabout in the area on Wednesday.

Manning said these workers can find employment in the tourism industry, where there is a shortage of labour so much so that workers from Guyana are hired in Tobago and in Port of Spain labour is sourced from Venezuela.

„Gambling is a social evil, that is what it is,“ said Manning, adding that many years ago former Prime Minister Eric Williams said one of the biggest worries about gambling was the extent to which it could bring a mafia and organised crime into a country.

Manning said he also had a lot of friends in San Fernando who gambles and, „when I hear the amount of money they spend a night in gambling I ask myself a lot of questions, what about their families, what about their children?“