Jamaica on Tuesday moved to shield the slowly expanding gaming industry from falling victim to organised crime with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that law enforcers vow will help prevent the country from being returned to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.

“We don’t want to go back on the list. We were on the grey list for, I think, four years and that limits your attractiveness to international investments because you are seen as a high-risk country,” Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards told the Jamaica Observer after his agency signed the MOU with the Casino Gaming Commission at MOCA’s head office in St Andrew.

Noting that Jamaica was was added to the grey list in 2020 and removed four years later, Edwards said that development was the result of hard work by different sectors to fix the issues.

FAFT leads global action to tackle money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing. Countries placed on its grey list are deemed to have weak regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.

“We were able to get off the list, so it is important that we maintain our current status of being off the list and it augurs well for Jamaica’s future. One of the things we have to do is to maintain this standard of integrity across all our organisations that can come in contact with significant funds and resources,” Colonel Edwards said.

“The gambling industry worldwide is always vulnerable to efforts of money laundering and so, where structured regulations are in place to regulate gambling, it often includes very stringent policies to ensure that dirty money doesn’t get into the industry,” he added.

Casino Gaming Commission Chairman Ryan Reid described the signing of the MOU as a commitment to integrity within the industry.

“It also indicates to those who may have intentions of partaking in activities that don’t run parallel to the mandate of the industry, that we are putting the structures in place to combat anything or any intentions they may have,” Reid said.

“The industry is emerging. We had the regulations in Parliament recently, so as we continue to build out this industry we want to ensure that the right framework is in place to combat some of those issues you may be assuming currently exists,” Reid added.

The commission’s Chief Executive Officer Cleveland Allen emphasised that the idea is not to make Jamaica into Las Vegas, which is notorious for gambling and gaming. He told the Observer that Jamaica is ready to diversify and enhance its tourism and that casino gaming is seen as one attraction.

“It is one avenue to augment, but it is not intended to make Jamaica a casino gaming destination, per se, not a Las Vegas, but a tourism destination where casino gaming is one of the entertainment amenities offered. We are keen to ensure we manage this emerging industry well, make sure it is regulated, and that there is investor confidence and the public’s interest is protected,” Allen shared.

On February 10, the House of Representatives approved the Casino Gaming (General) Regulations 2025 which will govern the Casino Gaming Act enacted in 2010. Within the regulations were rules for the commission’s administrative processes, licensee obligations, record-keeping, reporting, regulatory fees, procedures, inspection, enforcement powers, and general standards to ensure that the industry operates in an orderly and transparent manner.