Ian Kent Levy, Deputy Chairman of Supreme Ventures Limited, owner of the Jamaica Lottery Company, has filed an application in the country’s Supreme Court in an attempt to delay or stop the regulator, the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission, granting a second gaming licence.
Levy’s claim asserts that the BGLC is planning to issue a licence to a new entrant in the gaming business without first undertaking sufficient market analysis, reports the Jamaica Observer.
The filing refers to a 20-tear-old affidavit that stated 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 [which SVL later acquired],” said Levy.
The claim relates to the application for a gaming licence made by Mahoe Gaming, a venture backed by a number of the countries leading business personalities.
SVL’s risks and legitimate interests “will likely be increased and further eroded if another licence is issued without due process, fairness or acting in accordance with its policies and statutory functions,” argues Levy.
“The applicant invested significantly in complying with the conditions of its licence, which included the conducting of extensive research to establish its products [that] would produce growth in the lottery segment and not cannibalise the existing space.
“There is no such study… This study is critical to the survival of the applicant if a new licence is to be issued to Mahoe Gaming, or any other new licencee.”
Levy says the harm in having two lottery companies would be “irreparable and irremediable”, and suggested in the application that SVL, as a major stakeholder, should have been consulted.
