JERSEY’S economic diversity is being threatened by the policy of banks in the Island, according to the chairman of the Jersey Gambling Commission.
Advocate Cyril Whelan, commenting on the demise of a local bookmaker, described the banking sector’s unwillingness to provide access to its services as “concerning”.
“This development is extremely worrying and poses a real threat to the economic diversity the government is trying to nurture,” Advocate Whelan said in the commission’s latest annual report.
Advocate Whelan – a former Commissioner of the Jersey Financial Services Commission who has served on the Gambling Commission for the past seven-and-a-half years – said the issue of access to banking services “merited public discussion”.
“It affects not only the gambling industry, but also providers of services to the industry and, at the very low end of the scale, even some thrift clubs and charities.
“While it is clear that banks have to be commercial, they should not be able to effectively strangle a business by denying access to the finance system,” he said.
Advocate Whelan said that contrary to popular belief, gambling in the Island was not growing, but had been in a state of gradual decline over the past decade.
He referred to the bookmaker E. Coomes, which closed its last shop in Jersey last December.
“While this may provide some respite for other firms, it will do little to offset rising costs and, more concerning, the unwillingness of the banking sector to provide access to services,” he continued.
Among other issues highlighted by the commission’s chairman is progress being made towards treating problem gambling, a subject of concern to the commission for a number of years and now recognised by the government as sitting within the wider context of mental-health issues.
Advocate Whelan said he welcomed this progress but recognised competing pressures within Public Health which meant that, even if provision of a service by the government was likely, it would not be provided soon.
“It is for this reason that the Board of Commissioners is seeking to undertake a pilot study to ascertain if a third-party provider might be engaged in the short-term.
“This cannot be guaranteed, but it is certainly something that the commission would like to explore, so that those local people needing help to overcome their issues with gambling can be given real hope that change is on the way,” he said.
