Lotto agents: Gaming is essential

LOTTO agents, members of the public and the Government will all be deprived by the National Lottery Control Board's (NLCB's) putting gaming to a stop on Monday.

That was the argument of Allen Campbelle, head of the Electronic Lottery Agents Association of Trinidad and Tobago, on Monday.

The NLCB announced the halt on Monday, hours after the Government published regulations to effect the state of emergency, which seeks to curb the spread of covid19.

Campbelle said the cessation will deprive the Government of a steady source of revenue into the Consolidated Fund for use for the public good.

"That provides a cash stream that can be used to assist those in need. There are lots of people out of employment for the past 13 months."

He argued that it was wrong to close Lotto outlets whose agents have been some of the people adhering most strictly to covid19 health protocols.

"The flow in the line at the Lotto booths is the most disciplined."

He said customer transactions at a Lotto booth were less risky for covid19 than visits to supermarkets.

"There are now long lines at supermarkets and banks.

"Lotto punters know how important it is to follow the rules."

Many agents, he said, were struggling to meet the monthly turnover of sales set by the NLCB.

Saying some operators were still trying to recover from last year's lockdown of their trade, Campbelle lamented, "People are still owing their landlords.

"Today operators were crying. One woman reached to work and fainted."

Campbelle reckoned 350,000 people regularly participate in NLCB activities, such as using outlets to pay household bills and to buy Cashpot tickets and phone cards.

"Some 120,000 or 130,000 people depend on the NLCB to 'provide,'" he said, saying gamblers take care of their families with their winnings.

"Of the 350,000, at least 40 per cent depend on NLCB games for survival, especially now the unemployed. People depend on the NLCB to put food on the table and buy schoolbooks for their children."

Otherwise, Campbelle said his members were lamenting the diversion of a sum of money estimated at $3.4 billion to illegal gambling, while $5 billion went to the Consolidated Fund.

Saying Lotto operators ensure their customers are spaced, masked and sanitised, he argued that Lotto agents have not been shown to get ill with covid19.