Gaming authority stifling investor with non-renewal of licence – businessman

After five years of operating in Guyana with a valid licence, a trending gambling attractions across the country, Super Bet, has been denied renewal of licences from the Gaming Authority, which has also threatened to shut down its operations locally.
A frustrated General Manager of the Guiana Holding Inc, Super Bet, Shrikant Kisoensingh on Friday engaged the media at his lawyer, Anil Nandlall’s office, on South Road, Georgetown, where he explained that he invested millions into the business and feels he is being targeted and discriminated against, especially since new betting games are being granted their licences months after coming to Guyana.
“This is really stressful on us but we are still going strong because we are operating since 2012 till now and all of my staff they are scared to come to the office cause every time I’m getting phone calls asking do I have to work tomorrow and I say yes,” he protested.
There are presently over 175 Super Bet locations across Guyana which bring in income for over 500 persons.
Meanwhile, Nandlall explained that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) as well as the Gaming Authority has also issued the renewal of licences for the business in the past.
However this time around, the business owners are being told they require a certificate of “Good Standing” before they are issued the renewal.
“My client has been operating in Guyana since 2012. They have always been issued with the relevant licences by the Guyana Revenue Authority and they have paid all taxes that have been levied against their operations,” the lawyer explained.

Gaming Authority’s demands
In 2017, the Gaming Authority attempted to exercise control over the operations at Super Bet, the lawyer reminded. The Authority had accused the business of money laundering and the matter was taken to the courts.
According to Nandlall, the matter was heard and they were able to convince the court that the Gaming Authority had no authority over his client’s operations, as it fell under the purview of the Guyana Revenue Authority.
However, following the court’s ruling, the laws were amended to allow the Gaming Authority to exercise supervisory control over the operations of the business.
After those proceedings, the General Manager went to have his business licence renewed at the end of 2017 when he was told by the GRA that they can no longer issue licences to the business until it acquires a certificate of “good standing” from the Guyana Gaming Authority.
Not knowing what the certificate was, Nandlall said his client went over to the Gaming Authority to request the document, when it was explained to him that there are certain requirements that must be met before the certificate is issued.
After satisfying all the requirements, Nandlall said his client and he were summoned to a meeting by the Gaming Authority when they were told of yet another requirement.
“When we satisfied those requirements they invited us to a meeting and they told us that we must do what they call an AML-CFT audit before they issue us with the certificate of good standing. We don’t know what an AML-CFT audit is and that was explained very clearly to the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Gaming Authority, Mr (Lloyd) Moore. This request only came two weeks ago. All the time we were working on trying to satisfy all the different requirements that they had made to us in relation to getting this certificate,” Nandlall explained.
The lawyer argued on Friday that he has never heard of such a thing and has no idea what it is. Furthermore, he noted that he has never come across such a thing in Guyana’s laws which leaves him to believe that such discriminatory action is unconstitutional.
He said he would have enquired from the CEO as to where the services of someone qualified can be retained to undertake the audit and was told the agency would have to seek international expertise.
In the meantime, the business has been trying to acquire the necessary manpower to conduct the audit.
Another visit has since been paid to the Gaming Authority, the lawyer posited, where he explained to the CEO that the agency is working tirelessly to satisfy the requirements of the Gaming Authority since without the certificate of good standing, the GRA will not issue the renewal of the business licences.
Only on Friday, the lawyer said he made contact with the GRA’s Commissioner General, Godfrey Statia, who told him he has no issue with Super Bet’s operations since it is up to date with its taxes, among other requirements. Moreover, Statia told the company’s lawyer that he would be happy to grant the business licences as long as it produces the certificate of good standing.
Despite its efforts, Nandlall told the media that the business received a letter on Thursday from the Gaming Authority which threatened not to issue the certificate of good standing over the mere fact that they have been operating without a licence.
The lawyer added that the company has no problem with fair competition with other games on the market, but is against Government or Government agencies abusing its power to stifle businesses and is ready to fight the matter in court.
The issue is also being investigated by the Police, who had already questioned the General Manager of Super Bet Guyana.
Guyana Times was unable to get a comment from the Gaming Authority on the issue.