It is not surprising the responses to a poll by The Freeport News as to whether or not The Bahamas should legalize the numbers game were all in favour.

That seems to be the prevailing opinion of most Bahamians, but the government has been reluctant to address the issue because of strong opposition from sectors of the religious community.

What makes the current do-nothing stance on this matter somewhat disingenuous, however, is it is no secret there are people within the government who strongly support a national lottery, which would incorporate the daily numbers game.

In fact, if the Progressive Liberal Party had not been ousted from power in 1992, there was a strong possibility a lottery would have long been an established fact. Indeed, in his budget communication back in 1989, then – Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling proposed legislation that year to establish a lottery.

Sir Lynden said the proceeds would be used primarily for "the promotion and development of sports, sportsmen and sporting facilities, the development of the arts, the promotion of culture and the support and maintenance of community health facilities."

Who can deny that these are all worthwhile endeavours that would benefit the nation as a whole? Yet even though they know such a scheme would be in the best interest of the country, the government is allowing veiled threats of a religious backlash to prevent them from doing something that certainly would help ease some of the country's financial burdens.

What's more, lottery supporters say this form of gambling breaks no law set out in the Bible, the Good Book that these religious leaders use to formulate their doctrine. And they view the stand taken by some religious leaders as the height of hypocrisy, since almost all Bahamian churches engage in "legalized" gambling when they sell raffle tickets.

So, given its previous commitment, this is an initiative the current PLP government should dust off and take off the shelf, with a view to doing now what it more likely than not would have done had it won the 1992 general elections. The many reasons that introducing a lottery here makes sense are just as obvious now as they were back then.

And as for the moral question, we suggest there are far more critical issues in our society for the church and churchmen to be concerned about.

Just being reactionary about relatively minor matters does no-one any good at all.

Posted Monday 11 August, 2003