The implementation of the recent Value Added Tax (VAT) increase has been quite the scare for many businesses, including Web Shop gaming houses all over the country.
Craig Flowers, President of FML Group of Companies says, “we find ourselves in a very disappointing position today, after establishing such a good relationship with successive governments because this journey for us started with the Hubert Ingraham administration. It moved into the Perry Christie administration and now here we found ourselves with the Hubert Minnis administration,” he said.
“For us to be in the position today where we are not called to the table to have a discussion about this type of increase in increments, in our structure, we find it extremely disappointing,” said Mr. Flowers.
“I can say now the die has been cast, primarily because of the fact that it is now law that we must pay these fees.”
Mr. Flowers added that there are very few options that he and other gaming house operators now have.
“We can go down the road which we’ve been before in a legal term, to tie these matters up in court, or we can do one of the others, that is trim down, streamline our businesses and wait to feel the true impact as it relates to the customer’s performance here,” he said.
“At the end of the day, this whole industry is going to depend on what impact does this really have on the customers; the industry is driven by the customers, that is the engine of our gaming industry.
“The other approach which we may choose to take would be to bring back funds that we would have had outside, inject it into our business at this intersection and hold the staff and your entire operations, and that’s one of the positions FML had chosen to do and then wait and see what impact this would have.
“We all realize that the gaming industry has never been challenged like this before.
“Whether or not it is going to survive, I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see.
“This is all relative to the mindset of the people that brought us here, and ultimately we the operators just have to take a wait and see position at this time.
“That’s what I would recommend, of course other gaming house operators may choose to go in different directions, ” he said.
Mr. Flowers’ comments come as a guest on Love 97’s talk show, Jones and Company, where he and financial experts Gowon Bowe, Edison Sumner and Philip Galanis discussed the increase in taxes.