Samoans should ‘stick to bingo’

SAMOA – A bid to allow Samoans to access casinos in the country has been rejected by the country’s prime minister.

Under the current law only foreign passport holders are allowed in casinos.

However the Samoa Observer reports that there have been calls from several members of parliament for the government to consider changing the current law to allow Samoan passport holders to enter casinos.

But Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has flatly rejected the requests saying locals should “stick to bingo”.

He said the main reason casino gambling was allowed and supported by former members of parliament when it was first discussed was because of the decision not to allow locals to take part in the gambling.

“You see, that was why a lot of people raised up their hands and supported the idea of having a casino in Samoa,” he said. “The initial plan was to allow only those with international passports and foreigners to gamble.”

Tuilaepa said this was done to protect Samoan families from the negative impacts of gambling.

A final decision on the matter is to be made by the Parliamentary Bills Committee after its deliberations on MPs requests for a law change.

The MPs face strong opposition from the opinion of the prime minister who believes there is no need to amend the law to allow locals to gamble. One of the places where you can place online bets from Samoa is http://bigfreebet.com/ and it's partner sites.

But in parliament last week, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Lautafi Fio Purcell said the committee and the Totaliser Agency Board were already looking at the requests from members of parliament for change.

He noted that such reviews were already being considered with the drafting of an amendment bill.

But Tuilaepa begs to differ.

He flatly rejected the requests saying the law should stay as it is.

Tuilaepa said locals, especially women, should stick to bingo.

The prime minister said the main reason they restricted locals from playing was because it can cause a lot of problems for families in Samoa.

“We want to protect our people from being affected,” he said.

“Once they get addicted, the husband will just go to the casino and spend all his pay at the casino, leaving his wife and children to suffer. We don’t want that to happen.” - PNC/RNZI