The Supreme Court will on Wednesday consider a request to grant a stay of proceedings, or alternatively, an injunction, being sought by deputy chairman of Supreme Ventures, Ian Levy to prevent the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) from granting another gaming licence without doing a national survey.

Levy, acting on behalf of Supreme Ventures Ltd, which operates the Jamaican lottery, is being represented by the law firm Henlin Gibson Henlin in the matter, which was filed in the Supreme Court on April 3.

Chairman of the BGLC Clovis Metcalfe, and the organisation’s Managing Director Vitus Evans are also named as respondents.

Levy, who is a founding director of Supreme Ventures, is arguing that the BGLC was making plans to issue a licence to a new entrant in the gaming business without conducting a study, as per its mandate, to determine if the market can sustain two similar companies offering the same products to consumers, among other things.

Levy pointed out in the affidavit that 20 years ago, when Supreme Ventures Ltd was granted a licence to operate, it was instructed that new applicants to the market could not offer the same game types as the existing licencees.

“This was applied to SVL 20 years ago when it applied and was granted a licence, and was directed by the BGLC that it could not offer the same game types as the Jamaica Lottery Company [JLC],” Levy stated in the affidavit.

The JLC was later bought by SVL.

Levy claims that Mahoe Gaming Ltd, which has applied for a gaming licence, would be offering the same games as SVL. Mahoe Gaming involves some of Jamaica’s prominent business personalities, among them P B Scott, William Mahfood, Mark Myers, and Lise-Ann Harris.