No good explanation for forgiving My Lucky Day license fee debt

PHILIPSBURG – Prime Minister Rafael Boasman initially did not have an answer to a question by stmaartennews.com about the justification for forgiving Randall Friday’s lottery company My Lucky Day a 2.1 million debt in license fee arrears.

“I don’t have the details on it so I would have to check what exactly the issue was.” Boasman said. “I know that there was a request earlier in the year from companies that had a license but never used it. Because they had the license they accumulated fees that had to be paid and they requested forgiveness for the payment of these fees. I assume that is the situation we are talking about.”

But Boasman’s explanation cannot apply to My Lucky Day. The company owes a monthly license fee of 12,500 guilders – 150,000 guilders per year. The arrears of 2.1 million guilders therefor cover a period of fourteen years.

Only three years ago, in March 2014, Smartplay and Jamaroma – companies that operate under Robbie’s lottery – dragged My Lucky Day to court demanding that the company stops using the numbers from their draws for its own lotteries, and that it stops using the brand names Smartplay and St. Maarten Daily Number on its lottery tickets.

While My Lucky Day won the court case, the ruling also shows that the company was fully operational at that time and that there was therefore no reason not to pay its license fees.

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Government forgives Friday’s My Lucky Day 2.1 million debt