Agents complain as NLCB doubles down on new policies

THE National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB) is moving ahead with new policies come December 1, despite a threat of protest action from the Online Gaming Agents Association of TT (OGATT), including shutting down lottery booths nationwide.

NLCB chairman Eustace Nancis was hesitant to comment, telling Newsday a release would be sent out on November 12 to address the issue.

However, he said: "The policy that NLCB implemented now is going to remain."

OGATT president Dean Persad said agents take issue with all four policies being implemented.

The first is that NLCB has discontinued night-bag deposit slips as evidence that weekly earnings were deposited before a deadline of 2 pm every Monday.

The second policy mandates that agents must deposit earnings when they near their respective daily sales limit, or face suppression (their machine being blocked from making sales). A letter from NLCB to agents said only in these instances will an unstamped deposit slip as proof of payment be accepted.

The third policy would see the non-payment of weekly earnings be considered larceny, with consequent legal action.

The last policy will now leave agents liable to a bond of at least $25,000 to reinstate machines if they are suppressed because of non-payment or late payments of weekly earnings. Persad said this is on top of a $1,000 reactivation fee that is already charged.

The NLCB said the policies are designed to "ensure financial responsibility and accountability by all agents and for the sole purpose of ensuring the efficient operations of the NLCB lottery."

"We encourage all agents to review their accounts regularly and to act swiftly to remain compliant with these new rules."

But Persad said agents believe this is unfair to them, and described them as "draconian" measures.

Referring to the first, third and fourth policies, Persad said these are not only impractical but leave agents' fates in the hands of banks and whether they process the payments quickly enough to avoid their machines being suppressed, leading to hefty consequences.

He said this process will inevitably lead to agents being penalised as, through six years of experience of using the night-deposit safe, the banks sometimes take up to a week to process the payments.

"When we make that deposit in the night safe box, we have nothing to do with that any more. So if the bank takes its good time to remit your funds or for that to hit your account, we have nothing to do with that. Why penalise us for that?"

Adding to this, he said NLCB only sends out the statement of earnings that agents need to deposit on a Sunday morning, effectively leaving them just over 24 hours to deposit the money before they incur penalties, assuming it is processed immediately by the banks.

He said some agents choose to deposit some of their earnings before getting the readout from NLCB, and deposit the remainder after they get the statement on Sunday morning. However, he said if the bank does not process the latest deposit in time, agents are still penalised.

"The problem still exists because they will shut you down...for a dollar."

Overall, he said the NLCB's issue lies with the banks, and agents should not be penalised for their shortcomings.

"I put this squarely on the shoulders of the banks, and the NLCB is supposed to be dealing with the banks, because NLCB is the client, not the agent."

He said the existing inefficiencies lead to some 200 agents being suppressed weekly.

Commenting specifically on the third policy, of treating treat late payments and non-payments as larceny, Persad questioned why the NLCB was "playing police."

"How could you consider something larceny without evidence?

"I am telling you that I deposited your money, and you haven't received it. That does not mean I have not deposited the money. "Again it goes back to the bank, and the bank is a big, big player in this situation."

To address these concerns, Persad called for the NLCB to reinstate the option to have agents deposit the money over the counter, so that they then have a receipt from a teller to communicate more immediately with the organisation that their dues were paid.

"These are all so harsh now in these times, and especially...if we are not responsible for NLCB not seeing their money in their account on time – because we have many agents who deposit money on time, religiously, on a Monday or even the Sunday before."

Persad criticised the second policy, which mandates payment is immediately made when daily sales limits are reached, as highly impractical. He said doing this in the real world would require the agent or operator to shut down the booth, deposit the money at the bank and then return to resume work.

"How prudent is that as a business operation? Of course, you have a lot of logistics involved there. You (the agent) may not be around and have an operator running the machine; I may be out of the country and I coming back in two days' time; the operator can't go in the bank for me because I don't trust them – all sorts of logistical problems there tied into that. What sense does it make again?"

In light of these concerns, among other, pre-existing grievances, Persad said he had written to the NLCB. He said the agents are giving the board a week to respond before they resort to protest, including shutting down across the country for a week.