This is a hopeful column.
Hopeful it works out well, for the island.
For the past decade, maybe more, an arrangement with CBN, Canadian Bond Note company, regulated out lotto, they printed the tickets, ran the operation, they kept a large portion of the earnings, since no one protested.
They are a serious for-profit company, a Security Printer. They print money, bonds, stamps, and passports. They also have a lottery division, and Aruba was in bed with that, among other Caribbean islands — they delivered the security and technology, we provided the clients.
We shared the money unevenly.
Then Aruba decided it wanted to take over the daily running of Lotto, still in collaboration with CBN, leaving more money on the island.
The negotiations were friendly, I hear. The Canadians are reasonable. They gave up their leading position, and Aruba took back the management role. This week they inked a pre-agreement, that would become final in three months, then on January 1st 2023, a new law will be enacted, to govern the lottery, under the supervision of our Gaming Board, a mythical body of experts, more than ten years in the making.
In 2011, an expensive report on the subject, by one of the Big Four, was submitted to GOA, and it sat on the shelf until recently.
That report advocated a Gaming Board. The people of the Gaming Board are still to be hired; I think. They should be professionals with a legal background that are willing to learn about gaming, or gaming professionals that are willing to learn about the law.
The Gaming Board will supervise the lotto operation, with CBN in a consulting role, and the casinos, like the Central Bank of Aruba fending off the threat of money-laundering and fraud.
Lotto will become a sui genris, a stand-alone entity. I hope they use some of the existing facility and people already working for CBN, without reinventing the wheel for the new sui generis.
That sui generis will reissue the Corporate Governance of lotto, safeguarding transparency, audits, and sound management.
I told you it was a hopeful column.
Our Las Vegas Style Gaming Board is destined to give us a sterling reputation as guardians of integrity and regulatory transparency.
Also clumped in under the Gaming Board responsibility besides lotto and the casinos, bingo, and lottery shacks on the side of the road.
