PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament representing the National Alliance Ardwell Irion, who called the meeting on the issuance of casino and lotteries licenses, asked the Minister of TEATT Grisha Heyliger Marten several questions on the moratorium and its procedures.
Ardwell first informed the parliament of St. Maarten that the current coalition government does not have an approved and published budget for the year 2025 and their governing program has been released by the governing coalition.
The Member of Parliament said that because these things are not in place, it is difficult for members of parliament to say if this government intends to grant more casinos.
On the issuance of the casino to the owners of Port de Plaisance MP Ardwell asked the minister several questions regarding the issuance of the license. He informed the minister that it is not possible for any government to execute COVID-19 policies during a regular year. He also informed parliament that the former government never waived the total amount of fees from any businesses; however, fees for casinos were waived for the months they remained closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ardwell asked the minister if the decision to issue the new license to Port de Plaisance was discussed prior to it being granted. He asked the Minister to provide a breakdown on the number of standalone casinos and how many are attached to hotels or resorts. The National Alliance Member of Parliament also asked the minister to provide parliament with the number of moratoriums enacted on St. Maarten and the procedures for opening and closing moratoriums.
Ardwell asked the Minister to provide parliament with the letter or letters that former ministers sent to the businessman promising him another casino license.
Member of Parliament Francisco Lacroes informed the parliament of St. Maarten that the United Peoples Party that his party is not against any type of business and, in this case, casinos. He asked the Minister to provide the statistics on the amount locals working in casinos, while he asked the minister to also provide parliament with the number of gambling addicts in St. Maarten and how many of them checked in at Turning Point.
Lacroes said he heard that the Minister always refers to wanting a pound of flesh, and he also wants to see from whom that pound of flesh will be taken.
Member of Parliament Omar Ottley also referred to the lack of a governing program and the fact that the Minister did not provide any presentation to the parliament of St. Maarten when the meeting started on Wednesday morning.
Ottley said that even though the Minister is now a member of the Democratic Party, he knows that she came from the UPP party, and back then, she supported economic growth and businesses on St. Maarten.
Ottley asked the Minister if the Port de Plaisance asked the Minister to provide parliament with the facts pertaining to the issuance of the new license and if Port de Plaisance meets the requirement as stipulated by law, which states that hotels and resorts must have 200 hotels rooms operational when the license was issued. Ottley also asked the Minister of TEATT if the businessman even has 65% of room operation,l as stated in the promissory letters.
Member of Parliament Lyndon Lewis asked if there are sufficient casino workers currently on duty to carry out inspections in all casinos during the designated time period.
Lewis asked the Minister to list how many casino controllers the Ministry TEATT currently employs.
He further asked the minister if she believed that the current number of casino controllers is sufficient to cover the shifts at each casino and ensure that locals are kept out.
He asked if the casino controllers were genuinely there to protect locals and ensure they complied with the laws regarding the number of times they could enter the casino.
The NOW Member of Parliament asked if there was a system or log-in place for the casino controllers to track local visitation to the casino.
Therefore, he wants the Minister to clarify what the tablets are being used for regarding the ones given to the department.
Lewis called on the TEATT Minister to explain to the public the difference between a stand-alone Casino and a Hotel Casino.