After the announcement made last week that illegal gaming in Puerto Rico was moving millions of dollars each year, the Gaming Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC), the regulatory body, has declared that a task force to combat the problem is being assembled. Héctor Rivera Dávila was emphatic that the country would take the necessary steps to end the social and economic damage done by illegal gaming operations.

“The clandestine gaming must be eradicated so that the government can capitalise on legal operations of all types of gambling – the lottery, horseracing, casinos and lotto. The exchequer loses millions of tax dollars because of illegal gaming. It is time that all government departments unite their efforts to close down illegal operations, and we are presently undertaking this.”

Local newspapers last week reported comments by Colonel Adalberto Mercado, head of the Vice Squad, who said that seven days a week illegal gaming was happening at underground casinos, sporting events and horse races, and also on Dominican lottery draws, fairground roulette and unlicensed slot machines. In Puerto Rico, as in the United States and other countries, what may have started in communities as small time betting on numbers games or similar has become the province of organised crime and local mafias.

Illegal gambling should not be tolerated by governments and the measures being taken by Rivera Dávila and the PRTC to form a task force to combat the problem should start the necessary crackdown by the Puerto Rican authorities. Recently in Peru a law has been passed that will fine and/or imprison not only the illegal operators but also those who supply unauthorised equipment. Without tough action on unlicensed gambling there can be no adequate control of problem gambling, money laundering and associated criminal activity, and government programmes lose valuable tax funding. (E-03.14.08)

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