The Acting Commissioner of the Gaming Commission of Ghana, Emmanuel Siisi Quainoo says police personnel must stop arresting business operators before proceeding to ascertain the legality of their operations.
He said while the police and municipal authorities have no power to go seizing the equipment of operators of gaming centres, they have been exercising same, much to the shame and embarrassment of the Commission.
He stressed that if the authorities have doubts about the legality of any gaming centre, they should revert to the Commission, the sole body clothed with authority to regulate gaming activities.
Siisi Quainoo made the observation at the official launching of online sports-betting outfit, Soccabet, at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra.
He said “It’s becoming a bigger concern for the Gaming Commission because we’ve had reports about the police and some municipal assemblies seizing gaming equipment without authorization from the Commission. The Gaming Commission, by Article 721, is the only institution mandated to regulate and also to seize their equipment if we have to. The police, the municipal assemblies, they don’t have any mandate to seize gaming equipment. So I am using this platform to appeal to the police and the municipal assemblies that if they are in doubt of the activities of any operator, the first point of call is the Gaming Commission. Our phone lines are 24/7…”
He said if the office is contacted, the status of any operator in doubt could be cleared quickly, rather than the police and assemblies embarrassing the Commission and nation by putting the cart before the horse.
He said reforms introduced to shape and regulate gaming in the country has seen the industry in a fast growth and serving also as example for other countries, some of who have visited Ghana to study it.
One of the Commission’s major concerns however, he said, is for operators to be able to keep children and the underage from patronising their centres and games, and called on the management of Soccabet to do all it can to prevent children from its stables.
Soccabet’s Managing Director, Gungoren Arslan said the company which was established some eight months ago, was employing about 700 people at 46 outlets. It would be adding 14 more outlets in two months with an estimated total staff of 1,000.
Gungoren Arslan emphasised the company’s commitment to play by the rules as it readies to spread its operations throughout the country with about 200 shops in the coming years, saying the company was in Ghana to stay. It will also continue to inspire the industry with innovation and the best of gaming technology with customer satisfaction as a driving force.
Soccabet spreads its operations across multi-platforms - offline, online, mobile and telephone betting and prides itself in offering its customers the widest range of betting and gaming products and opportunities, as well as quick payments of wins.