BGLC targets international best practices

• April 24 2019
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/bglc-targets-international-best-practices_161906

The Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission (BGLC) has embarked on a programme to update its enterprise risk management approach and implement a business continuity management strategy that observes international best practices and is in line with ISO standards.

The initiative kicked off over a week ago, with the entire senior management team of the gaming regulator participating in a five-day workshop covering ISO 31000 Enterprise Risk Management and ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management.

“Achieving high standards of corporate governance practice among public bodies is a goal of the Government,” revealed Vitus Evans, executive director of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission.

“We recognised the need for a modern and strategic approach in order to improve and enhance the management of business risk for the commission, so we took the decision that in pursuing this initiative we would follow the best practices and do so to world standards.”

Another key driver for the initiative is the commission's revenue target.

“As a regulator, we have a secondary function of revenue collection,” Evans said. “Last year the revenue collected for the Government was in the region of $6 billion and we have an aggressive revenue target of $7.2 billion for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. It is critical to ensure we identify, anticipate and manage those risks and opportunities which impact achieving the strategic objectives, which ensure the commission can meet its regulatory and revenue targets.”

The workshops were facilitated by Allen Keele of Certified Information Security, an organisation that focuses on executive development across the US, Caribbean and Europe for enterprise risk management, business continuity management, information security, anti-bribery and anti-corruption management, among other areas.