Police make arrests over illegal gambling

| 16/10/2017 | 87 Comments

(CNS): Several arrests were made in the Eastern Districts this weekend in relation to illegal gambling in areas of concern that members of the community had shared with the police. Reminding the public that gambling is illegal in the Cayman Islands, the police said they would continue to put a stop to such activities, though they were unable to confirm the number of people who were rounded up in relation to illegal gambling.

“The operations this weekend reflect our commitment to restoring peace of mind to citizens of the Eastern Districts who have expressed concern to us about illegal activities happening in those areas,” said Police Inspector Winsome Prendergast. “We will continue to crack down on crime in these areas to ensure the safety and comfort of all who live there.”

The police also made other arrests and on Saturday 14 October, issued a large number of traffic tickets, more than half of which were for illegal tint on vehicles.

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Comments (87)

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  1. just asking says:

    Gambling oh my paying into pension and that looses money and you get back less than you put in. That’s gambling.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    This is BS!!! I have seen policemen with my own eyes gambling for many years. Stopping by and asking what number just played..? Sorry guys, but if you are going to arrest people for illegal gambling you may as well arrest the whole of Cayman, because… Everybody in Cayman buys numbers!!! Got it!!! Judges buy it! Preachers buy it! Doctors buy it! Politicians buy it! The Police buys it!!! Lawyers buy it! Church folks buys it, and even our Senior citizens buys it!!! So legalized the darn thing and stop being hypocritical!!!!! STOP arresting people and try to build some casinos around this boring town so we may all have some little entertainment, and it can help fund education for our children’s future.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I don’t buy it. It’s a mugs game.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I don’t play numbers.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Soooooooo true! It’s done in their uniform/police car. I have seen it myself. Clean up the guns and drugs first then go after tha #s. Learn to prioritize. Plenty people is benefitting. If you try to block #s it will be more crime to contend with. Looking commendation? #s wont help try drugs /Gun.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I don’t play numbers, pure dumb luck…But then again I couldn’t care less if someone else does. A game for suckers if you ask me.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I wonder what Makeeva thinks about all this? Would be nice to ask him for a comment.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    I am just tired of going to the supermarkets and as you are entering the doors there are usually kids, people posing as church folks,or others selling tickets or begging for a donation. A new location now seems to be the Mango Tree. It makes you embarrassed when they ask you to support them and you barely have monies for your groceries or dinner. I just wish that that the owners would put a stop to them.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Foolishness! Gambling will never go away, or be stumped out by any law enforcement efforts. Why? Because whom are considered normal law abiding citizens partake. Remember the era of prohibition in the USA?…The Police could instead try to arrest people for illegal dumping, and littering. Then we could have a cleaner Island, and lots of revenue from the $500 fines. On the other hand, I’m hearing that there is an underground ‘Cock Fighting’ business going on. That’s gambling, but more so…animal cruelty. Yes, arrest these people.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It must be very disheartening for some officers to be forced to raid /arrest these numbers people when in fact they are customers of of them!!!!! Long ago, when raids were planned it was on the Marl Road before it happened. A large % of the public would prefer to see/read drugs /guns bust.

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  6. angelica tatum says:

    hmmmm. I know of a man who arrived here as a Handy Man and today he is a BIG ILEGAL LOTERY SELLER. and paid tip of 100.00 just to be seated IN A RESTAURANT and walk around with thousand of dollars in his pocket and first class transportation, new one every year and the police knows who he is. OWNER OF ABOUT 2 STORES IN TOWN AND USE IT for his gambling customers.

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    • Diogenes says:

      Written with the grammatical skills of a true Caymanian, education needs to be improved people and the proof is in the pudding ( or maybe the Cassava Cake).
      Maybe they can legalize, tax and regulate gambling and get our education out of the gutter.

      Just a thought,
      Diogenes of Cayman

      Also USING ALL CAPS DOESN’T MAKE WHAT YOU ARE TYPING MORE TRUE IT’S JUST ANNOYING

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      • Anonymous says:

        Your racist comment about Caymanians says more about you than our host country!

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        • Diogenes says:

          Being a Caymanian and acknowledging that our education needs to be improved drastically and pointing out that grammatical nightmare in the original comment, makes me racist I guess. How dare I criticize the state of education and someone else’s inability to use proper English, right? . Its not like the comment is just missing a comma or a period, the statements are a grammatical mess to say the least in addition to the spelling errors, etc.
          I’m not demanding perfection, everyone makes mistakes including myself obviously, look through the multiple CNS comment sections on articles over the months and I’m sure you’ll find a plethora of examples from yours truly, but I always try my best to hold myself to a high standard and encouraging the same from others should not be something that I am disliked for, If you dislike the way I said what I said that is a completely separate topic and conversation which I have addressed before ( In short, I don’t care if people like me or what I say or the way I say it. I say what in my opinion needs to be said, regardless of the feelings of others and in any way that I choose)

          Couple pointers for the next time you decide to leave a stupid comment:

          Figure out (one of) the definition(s) of the word you are using to describe the person and use it correctly . For example a racist is defined as “a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another.”

          Nothing I said was discriminatory or prejudiced therefore by that definition I am not a racist (also that would be implying that I hate my own denonym which is preposterous)
          I’ll just help you out by defining prejudice for you too, “a prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience”.

          In my actual experience Caymanian education and the organization thereof is lacking in quality and needs to be improved upon especially when it comes to facilities and resources involved. Looking at the original comment serves as all of the proof I need to show that my point is valid, you simply dislike what I said which is your prerogative (go ahead and look that one up too).

          Take a second and listen to the way that some Caymanians speak, the way we are taught (through social interactions) to take our English and break it down into something resembling the broken English in other jurisdictions. We can all pretend that it doesn’t exist but we all know what people assume about persons based on their speech patterns and word choices. The first impression is key for most interactions and I am simply aware of what kind of message speech (and texts in this instance) sends especially in today’s interconnected world. The way you speak can represent you in the same way, that your attire does in the professional world. It represents the legitimacy of your arguments and your points, and it potentially displays the level of intelligence that you claim.

          My mother and grandmother always spoke about how they were raised (here on Cayman) and the way that they were expected to represent themselves with their clothing, ironing and pressing everything and making sure that creases were perfect. Cleaning shoes and making sure their uniforms and clothing was pristine.It is one of the things in Cayman’s past that I can understand the reasoning behind clearly. No matter what you do, you always need to try your best to represent yourself well. It is a quality that people tend to not care about so much these days, and while I am not one that is going to lecture anyone about ironing, (I detest ironing anything unless it is absolutely necessary) I still feel as though there are other ways that we can present ourselves properly as a territory one of which is speaking fluently (or typing) and clearly while trying our best to use English properly.

          If advocating for representing ourselves well and improving education on these islands makes me a “racist” then I guess it is another title that I will proudly claim.

          Diogenes of Cayman

    • Anonymous says:

      So please do tell the police of your suspicions, or did you read it on Marl Road?

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  7. Observer says:

    I have been trying not to respond to this article but find that I have to. For the love of me I can’t understand what is being done here. Everyone is buying the numbers from the captain to the cook, why not legalize the darn thing and help to fund education which is needed so badly. It is so sad with all the burglaries, and more serious offended being committed that we focus on numbers, really?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Education does not need more funding. It has more per head than spent in many developed countries including UK and USA. You can throw money at the problem but it wont make good leaders!

    • Anonymous says:

      Show me a country that has legalised gambling and solved their social or educational ills. (You mentioned both; I’ll take one or the other.) Until you can do that you have no argument that legalising gambling will help. – PS, as you research also look in to Gamblers Anonymous and start planning to set one up here with the tax funds from legal gambling.

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    • Anonymous says:

      because churchs don’t want it…..not for any religous reasons….just because less people will pay for their ‘legal’ gaming(raffles)

  8. Anonymous says:

    Make sure you do the same in the Brac. From District Admin to the Police Station and back they all buy numbers. You also have civil servants and ex civil servants selling numbers in the Brac. Everyone knows this but as usual they turn a blind eye to that and instead cause turmoil in the Island about someone’s art that is on their own property. Please. AS THE BRAC TURNS. Oh yea.

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  9. Anonymous says:

    As with most things, make it illegal and you instantly have a black market filling the gap. Make it legal, regulate it and tax it and you have a winner.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    I’ve lived in Cayman 4 months and even I know the people who do the ”Numbers” game who to see and who to call. And you telling me the police find it so hard to see who is involved in these gambling rings, the police love to play numbers just as much as the next man, in fact I over heard a convo from a well kow politician a few weeks ago drinking at the outdoor bar by Salty’s talking about buying numbers lol.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    I wonder if this is a rake. Police play 13 so I’m betting lunch time and hope I win a lickle change. Honestly, our government is too concerned with the wrong things. Why do they care about my use of a dildo and what number I like for the 5pm pot?? People f&@%, make love, have sex, “kinky sex” whatever you wanna call it. GEEZ! Get rid of this stone aged mindset.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Hypocrisy should be illegal in Cayman, but if it was you’d have to lock up the whole islands.

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    • Diogenes says:

      We could get it done, all we would have to say is that we are building a wall to keep the expats out and Caymanians would chip in. When we are done building we lock the door behind us and throw away the key.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    start with force….i was yold by inconfirmed sources…some of them participate ?

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Ok I get itctgat gambling is illegal but what about when churches, Lions Club and many Government Departments have raffles? Is that not a game of chance same way? Too many hypocrites about here. Kmt

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  15. Diogenes says:

    CIG protecting adults from gambling just like the protect adults from sex toys, naked statues and buying alcohol on sundays… all while wasting resources that could be better spent on education or social issues, or maybe more serious “crime” ( not that I personally consider gambling a crime)

    Simple three step plan for the government in relation to gambling:

    Legalize
    Tax
    Regulate

    Everyone wins, everyone is happy and everyone is safe (except for the losers)

    Diogenes

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  16. Anon says:

    Too late!!!!! Majority of Govt employees patronizes illegal gambling including yours!

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  17. Anonymous says:

    Is gambling a sin? Why is it illegal? If you budget a portion of your salary to ‘entertainment’ with the off chance you could double the money why is that so wrong? Yes it is addictive, but those that are sensible, surely that is not sinning. Proceeds could go to charity or would it be viewed as dirty money. Quite a double standard for a tax haven country that lets billionaires hide out tax free with their bundles of money. Or how about the amount of people who take drugs on island. I hear there are a lot. Or the drunk drivers on the roads. I fail to see how gambling is sinful and hence illegal.

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    • Diogenes says:

      It is illegal because the Honorable Gentlemen and Ladies of the LA would never stoop so low as to legalize, tax and and organize the regulation of something like gambling.
      They don’t want to risk losing any edge they might have on the electorate with the fundamentals, and it would provide the ammunition to any opposing candidates to run on “Look at how sinful the government is legalizing gambling” “So and so is a sinner he helped legalize gambling here and is destroying the moral fiber of cayman”.
      All the while The Honorable Speaker takes each and every chance he can to run off to a casino and makes it back just in time for his daily FB post on morality and his little prayer. How did he put it again ” My heart is pure and my hands are clean”, yeah right Mac, Cayman is used to your shit and it doesn’t change a thing, at least own your hedonism.

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  18. deano says:

    I play the lottery in the UK every week, BET FRED, premiership bets, horse racing and all sorts, won quite a it too!! and I’ve been living here for years mukka!! You cant tell a Yorkshire man he cant bet on his horses!!

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  19. Veritas says:

    Do these numbers operators permit buyers to use their Gov’t issued credit cards to purchase them?.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    Don’t forget to check Cayman Brac. They have certain people there who make their entire living off of numbers. Poor fools.

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    • Real345talk says:

      Make more than you will ever dream of making. Poor fool.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Retired civil servants supplementing their income.

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      • Happy420 says:

        They got too… Retired and living below the poverty line unless you were a top ranking civil servant.
        I used to make $2500 per month as a civil servant had a spinal injury and was retired early on $160.00 per month and can no longer work. As a Caymanian and disabled this is very hard to make two ends even try to meet.

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        • Veritas says:

          But Happy how much do you pay for all that medical treatment, and how much did you contribute for your pension?.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Booya!

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          • Anonymous says:

            They contributed their work. The contract they signed was for pay plus health. (Civil Servants pay their half of their pension, which is a higher % than the private sector.) Just because you work for an employer who wants you to die sick and poor doesn’t mean that there’s not a better way to live. (I assume you are not arguing for nationalised health and pension. I’m not.)

            • Anonymous says:

              “They contributed their work” That is why Brac will always be left behind. They (Civil Servants) were/are paid for their work. Some even had so much free time at work that they could concentrate on selling numbers rather than being fit enough to carry out their duties.

    • Anonymous says:

      Police in Cayman Brac too busy worrying about foots to pay attention to numbers.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Selling numbers leaves lots of time to spew nonsense on Face Book

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Wait, is it only the Eastern Districts? What about down by Welly’s and Solomon Grocery?

    They really need to legalize this and earn revenue from it

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  22. Anonymous says:

    Thank you… upholding our laws!!!!

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Good

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  24. Anonymous says:

    Need funding to finish the schools? Want to become less reliant on Dart? Need to refurbish the GT hospital? Need funds to build a trade school?

    I can’t believe Govt is still too stupid to implement a national lottery and legalize/tax recreational marijuana!

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    • Anonymous says:

      I agree but we could also use the revenue from fines for traffic law violations…..the RCIP could almost fund itself if it would actually enforce the law and collect the fines. Those funds could then be used elsewhere. It boggles my mind that Government after Government lets this slip through its fingers……..

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  25. Anonymous says:

    Dear Ms.. Prendigast,
    Your efforts to stop illegal gambling is valiant, but it is all in vain.
    All MLA’s, the vast majority of senior civil servants, vast majority of RCIPS officers and most residents know where “Numbers” are sold and who are the main operators.
    The MLA’s recently amended the Gambling Law to legalize the decades old illegal gambling that has been openly conducted by churches, service clubs, any person forming any type of “association” conducting gambling for any “cause”.
    They even allow very young children to sell these gambling tickets by super markets and other public places.
    The MLA’s and government want the illegal gambling to continue unabated – when they opened the door to legal gambling they refused to increase the fine for illegal gambling from the current fine of $20.00 – yes $20.00,
    Too many MLA’s are obligated to continue protecting the few profitable gambling operators taking money from the poor fool addicted gamblers.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are you referring to raffle tickets sold for charity?

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    • National observer says:

      Illegal gambling has helped a lot of people. Instead of harassing number buyers/sellers go and target drugs/gun dealers, put your officers on beach patrol so that the tourists can enjoy our beaches without being robbed , when you have cleaned up these messes than you you can target #s . I would humbly suggest you concentrate on the more serious offences that’s giving our Island a bad reputation , numbers certainly not doing this,. Too many unsolved crimes, low morals, unprofessionalism which is lacking. Arresting numbers people is not the answer for a good name or worthy of praise. Its still a little help than to steal or commit robberies.

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  26. Anonymous says:

    No sex toys?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are they illegal in Cayman?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Yes, sex toys are illegal in Cayman but prostitutes being imported everyday from neighboring Spanish Countries is perfectly acceptable. Things that make you go hmmmm……..

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        • Anonymous says:

          Cubans, Hondurans and especially dominicans….check all the local bars you could score at $50-$100 brother

        • Anonymous says:

          You all thinks that’s it? XXXXXX are conducting massages from they apartment/home for money and if you get sexually arouse, you can pay extra for sex. Why hasn’t something being done about them…..oh wait, I should ask how many Immigration, Custom, Police Officers go there and yeah how many high officials are their so call clients. So sad to see how our little island is be exploit for the love of money. What about those marrying just to stay and have no feelings for their spouse and living double life here and in their country? Crack down on the real issues and problems, stop the exploitation of employment then people would have to gamble to try and win more eyes to maintain themselves and their families.

      • Anonymous says:

        I asked this question. Sorry, at first it seems to be blatantly obvious which is where the downvote might have came from.

        However, the confusion originated after reading section 157(c) of the penal code. It seems that importing them to conduct business with / sell to the public is highlighted as illegal, but I didn’t get a clear answer in regards to the legality of importing them privately for personal use.

        See:

        (c) carries on or takes part in any business, whether public or private, concerned with any such matters or things, or deals in any such matters or things in any manner whatsoever, or distributes any of them publicly, or makes a business of lending them;

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  27. Anonymous says:

    Good. The BT dealers crackheads thieves and fencers needs to go. the local and imported ons alike. fake fishermen tooe

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  28. Anonymous says:

    I nick in an over hundred thousand dollar market per week.

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  29. Bob says:

    Gambling is illegal in Cayman. Think about that for a minute. We’re home to 10,000 REGULATED hedge funds that bet, amongst other things whether something is going up or down! Grow up CIG. Join the 21st Century. Muppets.

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    • West bay Premier says:

      Bob , they don’t call that gambling in their terms , they call that stock market investing better sounding than gambling and they knew how to make that legal. Not a little guy poker game.

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  30. West bay Premier says:

    So are alot of other things that are illegal, but gambling shouldn’t be so high on the priority . Things like crime , illegal importers , and drugs importers those are bigger fish that the Police should be more concerned with .

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  31. Anonymous says:

    With the many many road accidents I wander if it is not better for games to go on at some of the residents rather than people going on the street to the clubs etc where all the madness goes on. Especially older folks who might be playing a dollar game. Not that I am interested but just stating a fact. A game of bingo with some snacks being served and some soda is good recreation for the older folks in the neighbourhood. Just wish some entertainment can be found for the youth rather than they killing themselves off on the streets and doing their drugs.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Follow the US and all the older and middle age people could have a meeting place to play their games, e.g. Bingo and cards.

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  32. Anonymous says:

    If they are serious about cracking down on the “numbers” game all they have to do is go to a certain establishment at the top of Marina Drive on a Sunday Morning. But that may be too easy since there’s quite a lot of “well known” frequent visitors.

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