Request for exact Gaming Commission salaries rejected
The head of the Bermuda Gaming Commission has declined to give taxpayers exact details of the six-figure salaries of the regulator’s executives.
Cheryl-Ann Mapp, chairwoman of the BGC, upheld a decision by the commission’s director of legal Marvin Hanna to disclose salary bands rather than precise salary amounts for the roles of chief executive, director of finance and human resources, director of legal, and director of regulation.
Ms Mapp told The Royal Gazette, which submitted a public access to information request in March for the salary information and other records, that she had reviewed the file along with the Pati Act and reached the same conclusion as Mr Hanna.
"I support the commission’s original position, as the responses provided by the Pati officer fulfilled your request," wrote the chairwoman.
The original Pati response revealed that chief executive Charmaine Smith, who was appointed in December, earns between $175,000 and $225,000 a year.
Dwight Furbert, the commission’s director of finance and human resources, earns between $150,000 and $200,000, as does Olu Bademosi, the director of regulation. Mr Hanna earns between $125,000 and $150,000.
The Gazette has appealed Ms Mapp’s decision to the Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez, who ordered the Bermuda Hospitals Board in 2019 to release information on the amounts paid to its executive team within $10,000 salary bands.
Ms Gutierrez wrote then that the “public interest in accountability and transparency for effective public spending requires disclosure of the total cost for individual executive team positions in a range of $10,000 …”
Since it began operating, the BGC has received a $3.76 million grant from the public purse, as well as interest-free, repayable loans totalling $2.1 million.
It also has a government guarantee allowing it to borrow up to $9.8 million to keep operating in the absence of any income from casino licence fees.
As reported last month, the gaming commission has not released audited financial statements for the past three years, although it had two chief financial officers on its payroll between October 2022 and March 2023. It also uses the services of a local bookkeeping firm.
Ms Smith did not respond to questions about why the financial statements were delayed, stating last month there would be “no comment on matters the subject of a Pati request whilst the request process is under way”.
It was not possible to reach her for comment this week.
• To read Cheryl-Ann Mapp’s decision, see “Related Media”
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