Dean Persad, president of the On-Line Gaming Agents of T&T (OLGATT), wants the Government to increase agents’ commission to 12 per cent, upgrade gaming machine systems which are making mistakes and tackle illegal Play Whe which is affecting the Government’s revenues.
The OLGATT represents more than 700 agents, Persad when he addressed budget consultation hosted by Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh on Tuesday.
On the issues affecting online agents, Persad said he was making a nonpolitical call to the Government and recommending several improvements.
“We’re calling on the Minister to increase our agents’ commission from eight to 12 per cent. We haven’t received an increase since 2007 when Mr (Louis) Lee Sing was NLCB chairman,” he said
“We also want, in these high-risk times, for them to give us the option to do over-the-counter deposits. Right now it’s mandatory to only do night safe deposits which is a very, very risky thing.”
Persad said the agents also want the Government to replace the old Altura system with a more efficient, modern one.
“There’s a lot of mistakes taking place on the machines and break downs. We want them to change and upgrade that system.”
“We’re also asking them to tackle the illegal Play Whe which is interfering with not only agents’ business but the revenues coming in to the Government.”
Persad also called for a reduction of the workload on the online gaming machines, noting: ”Now we’re doing all kinds of court payments, maintenance, HDC collection and getting 50 cents on a transaction, 25 cents. We’re calling on the minister to look into that and also make a clear policy on the suppression of machines.”
He also recommended that the $100 weekly settlement fee be reduced to the original $15, the $500 reactivation fee to the original $100 and lowering of the security bond to $10,000 from $25,000.
Persad said he wrote to Finance Minister Colm Imbert on June 12 but is yet to receive even an acknowledgement. He said he had also written several letters to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley but got no response.
President of the OWTU’s Pointe-a-Pierre branch Christopher Jackman called for a policy to ensure compensation is paid to the families of the Paria divers by a certain time. He said now at election time, Paria Fuel Trading was saying they wanted to pay but the contractors aren’t giving information.
He declared: “Pappyshow politics!”
Doctor clashes with UNC MPs
Dr Pooran Ramlal asked whether an MP or judge is better than other people and why someone like Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee, who was at the meeting, gets a “fixed pension” he claimed.
Ramlal claimed Lee’s pension was “indexed and a judge who retired 20 years ago gets a pension as if he retired yesterday.”
He was interrupted by Couva South MP Rudy Indarsingh who said there is no indexation for an MP. However, Ramlal insisted there is indexation.
“Don’t argue that with me. Every five years your pension goes up. Don’t argue that with me, okay Mr Lee.”
Lee later said he didn’t get a pension and didn’t know why “that doctor” called his name. He added that he didn’t need a pension to survive and didn’t want a pension.
Former journalist Ken Ali, who said he would speak on “working class matters,” noted that“Leslie” Scotland was appointed to help the National Security Minister AND was corrected by the audience who told him it was Keith Scotland.
Ali said Venezuela’s current issues have implications for T&T, this country is facing a deepening migrant crisis and regardless of who wins the US elections, they’re tightening their borders. He also named a female procurement official who he claimed is paid a total of $85,000 monthly. He accused her of non-performance on the Secondary Roads Rehabilitation issue..