The government should place a monopoly on online gaming licences granted in order to control the industry and prevent it from spiraling out of control, according to FML Group of Companies CEO Craig Flowers.

Mr. Flowers said regulating the industry should be seen as an urgent matter and he cautioned that if the government does not act swiftly and deliberately it could soon lose control of the entire industry.

“There should only be one licence and that licence should be that the government and the Gaming Board should come to seek to control the entire industry,” Mr. Flowers told the Journal Wednesday. “There are only six or seven companies that can operate under the same licence. Why do we need to give individuals licences so that tomorrow when their companies have financial or whatever difficulties later on they would have the option of manipulating or dealing with licences loose out in the public domain?

“This is an ideal opportunity that I think the government should be looking forward to controlling the industry. If we don’t take this position right now and make this happen now we will be no more than the bus drivers situation in three or four years from now.”

Mr. Flowers said that the size of the country and its population make it unnecessary for the government to grant multiple licences.

However, he insisted that by the government holding a monopoly on licences, this will in no way prevent operators from participating in the industry.

“It doesn’t mean that all of the companies won’t operate – they will operate but under one licence and the government will come to that licence holder to seek information from all of the industry. You can’t have one database saying one thing and another database saying anothe, otherwise you will spread the government too thin all over the country for such a small place. But you do not need five, six, seven or ten licences – the place is too small.”

As it relates to brick and mortar casinos, Mr. Flowers said the regulations there are different and further consultations with the government and those stakeholders should occur.

Baha Mar has expressed interest in having its guests use mobile devices to participate in online gaming during their vacation experience.

At this stage, Mr. Flowers believes it is too soon to determine how big the industry will become because of ongoing changes in the online industry.