NASSAU, The Bahamas — The Government of The Bahamas advises the public that Island Luck’s Three Ball Game is wholly consistent with the provisions of the Gaming Act 2014. The Game offered by Island Luck is not a public lottery, but is instead an innovative aspect of what exists today.
When adopting the Legislation that is now transitioning Bahamian web shops into regulated Internet gaming operations, the Government made provision for the continuation of the Numbers Game. In specific, the Gaming Act 2014 (“Act”), which generally requires that all Bahamians wager via the Internet, carves out an exception which permits the Numbers Game to be played in an over the counter, cash-based environment.
The definition for the Numbers Game incorporated into the Act was clearly designed to both accommodate the “lotto” products traditionally offered by Bahamian web shop operators and to allow Bahamian players future access to more innovative offerings by licensed Gaming House Operators. It reads as follows:
Numbers Game means a game made available by the holder of a gaming house operator license –
(a) under which any single number or combination of numbers ranging from 000 to 999, or such other series of numbers as may be approved by the Board, may be wagered upon by a player at odds which are fixed at the time of the conclusion of the wager; or
(b) which enables a player to place a bet on the results of an official public lottery drawing or other similar event conducted anywhere in the world, in respect of which the official results are made publically available.
On March 30, 2016 the Gaming Board authorized its Licensee Playtech Systems Limited d/b/a Island Luck to proceed with a Three Ball Game, reserving for itself the ability to revisit that authorization in 90 days.
In doing so the Gaming Board recognized that the location of the draw at Island Luck’s South West Plaza location, rather than at a location outside of The Bahamas, did not change the categorization of this Three Ball offering as the Numbers Game. In specific, the Gaming Board relied upon the following factors:
o Island Luck is utilizing the SmartPlay Quick Draw v. 1.0 supported by the SmartPlay Web Connect v. 1.5.16 to draw the numbers. SmartPlay International Inc. is a world leader in number drawing machines and systems and is a vendor to many of the world’s most reputable regulated lotteries, including many of the public lotteries that are routinely wagered upon in The Bahamas such as New Jersey’s.
o As authorized, the SmartPlay Quick Draw must utilize SmartPlay White RFID Ping Pong Balls which are in controlled sets of 10 balls numbered 0 – 9 thus meeting the 000 to 999 requirement.
o As authorized, the odds must be fixed at the time of the conclusion of the wager. Island Luck offers this local numbers draw at exactly the same odds it offers on numbers based upon foreign public drawings.
o As authorized, each and every draw is conducted in a controlled setting, in accordance with a security plan and accounting and internal control procedures that have been imposed upon Island Luck by the Gaming Board and are to be regularly monitored by it. In accordance with these controls, each and every draw is available to be viewed by the gaming public live at the South West Plaza location or via a live stream format readily available throughout The Bahamas over public Internet and cable TV. The Island Luck drawing thus incorporates all of the accouterments of a regulated public drawing.
o In accordance with the Act and at Island Luck’s expense, the SmartPlay Quick Draw v. 1.0, including the SmartPlay Web Connect v. 1.5.16 and RFID Balls were tested and certified by a world renowned international testing laboratory as fully compliant with all applicable technical standards in the Act, the Gaming House Operator Regulations 2014 and the Gaming Regulations 2014 including the GLI requirements.
