Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw is giving the assurance that the pending divestment of the sole promoting company of horse racing in Jamaica, Caymanas Track Limited (CTL) does not mean or is to be seen as a contraction, leading to a possible loss of jobs. Instead Shaw said the divest should be looked at as one of expansion and the creation of more opportunities.

Minister Shaw was speaking last Tuesday evening at the official launch of the Diamond Mile sponsored by the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC), Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) and CTL at the ATL Automotive Limited showroom on Oxford Road in St Andrew. SVL was earlier this year selected as the preferred bidder to take over the promotion of horse racing.

“I want to give all stakeholders in the racing industry the assurance that the takeover of the CTL does not mean a contraction, it means expansion….it means that the product was dormant, kind of laying down for too long, but with divestment that same product will now have opportunities for significant expansion and growth.

“The opportunities extend to everyone including the citizens living in the area and all of the stakeholders and we are looking forward, not just to a Diamond Mile race, but for more diamonds to be placed in the pot for the future of this industry,” Shaw said.

With the divestment of CTL set to be completed by year’s end, Minister Shaw informed again that the government will be using the opportunity to merge Jamaica’s three major gaming commissions into one regulatory body.

He outlined that the BGLC, the Jamaica Racing Commission and the Casino Gaming Commission will all be fused to become the Jamaica Gaming Commission.

The Minister pointed out that the move is aimed at ensuring that the public sector becomes more efficient and as a consequence stimulate economic growth.

“The government has made a commitment to make the public sector more efficient, we have to save money and at the same time deliver better quality services.

“So, we are using the opportunity of this divestment to take a look at the three regulatory agencies that have to do with gaming in Jamaica.

“When we look at the most developed gaming countries in the world, England and the United States, England has one gaming commission and the US has one gaming commission in each state.

“But in little Jamaica, we must have three different commissions for one thing called gaming.

“It therefore makes absolute sense for us to merge these three commissions and as we divest CTL, we will be seizing the opportunity to merge these three institutions into one and they shall become the Jamaica Gaming Commission,” he stated.