GREAT BAY--Two years into St. Maarten’s gambling reform process, Government has completed several major pieces of groundwork for a new regulatory system, but the additional revenue expected from the reforms cannot begin flowing until the necessary legislation takes effect, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication Grisha Heyliger-Marten told Parliament.
The Minister also acknowledged another significant feature of the present system: TEATT cannot provide Parliament with one overall number of casinos that are compliant or in breach across all Government requirements because responsibility for supervising the industry is divided among several authorities.
Heyliger-Marten made the disclosures during the continuation of the 2026 Budget debate, where Members of Parliament questioned what tangible progress had been made after approximately two years of studies, consultations, business-case development and regulatory work.
According to the Minister, Government now has a draft gambling ordinance, an approved business case for the planned Gambling Authority, a gambling prevalence study and a proposed regulatory and institutional framework. The project has therefore moved beyond its initial planning phase and into legislative and implementation work.
At the same time, the quartermaster is continuing preparations for the institutional and operational establishment of the Gambling Authority so that implementation work can advance alongside the legislative process. The next steps include processing remaining Government feedback, stakeholder and public consultation, and advancing the draft legislation through the required advisory and legislative procedures.
What has not yet materialized, however, is the additional Government revenue anticipated specifically from the new regulatory framework.
Heyliger-Marten explained that those revenues cannot be collected until the required legislation enters into force and the new regulatory mechanisms become operational. Matters concerning existing casino taxation and the collection of those taxes fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
The exchange also exposed the extent to which casino supervision is currently divided across Government.
When pressed on how many casino licence holders are presently in breach, Heyliger-Marten said TEATT can identify and document non-compliance within the areas that fall under its own legal mandate and take corrective or enforcement action where appropriate. It cannot, however, assign every casino a single Government-wide designation of either compliant or non-compliant.
That is because casino operators are subject to requirements administered by different authorities. TEATT supervises areas including gaming equipment and casino licence conditions, while taxation, labor requirements, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism, AML/CFT, and other obligations fall under the respective competent authorities.
The result is that Government does not presently have one consolidated compliance classification that allows TEATT to tell Parliament, in a single figure, how many casinos are in breach across every regulatory requirement.
Heyliger-Marten stressed, however, that this does not mean casinos are operating without supervision.
Through its casino-control responsibilities, TEATT conducts inspections and verification of gaming machines and tables, inventories equipment, carries out controls and monitors compliance with applicable casino licence requirements. The Minister cited bingo equipment inspections conducted in 2026 as an example, noting that irregularities identified during controls resulted in corrective action being required.
She maintained that Government today has a considerably clearer picture of the gambling sector than it did two years ago.
The reform also has a financial expectation attached to it, but Heyliger-Marten made clear that the country has not reached that stage yet. Until Parliament receives and ultimately adopts the necessary legislation, the mechanisms through which the new regulatory framework is expected to produce additional revenue cannot be activated.
