An Antiguan in Gibraltar
Gibraltar has always been a melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds. Gibraltarians themselves are a fusion of European immigrants who arrived at the Rock from Spain, Italy, Malta, and Portugal at various times throughout Gibraltar's colourful history. When you add to that the influence of nearby Morocco and more than 300 years of British rule, you are left with a truly multilayered society.
In recent years, however, Gibraltar's burgeoning finance and gaming industries have begun to attract persons to the Rock from much further afield. I was introduced to Assym Jones through a mutual friend. Despite growing up within Gibraltar's cosmopolitan society, I had never met anyone from Antigua before, and was pleasantly surprised by Assym's seemingly characteristic good humour and polite demeanour. Assym works in Gibraltar as a senior charge-back representative for Cassava Enterprises, an organisation that operates several high-profile gaming websites, including 888.com.
As a response to the overwhelming growth of its European customer base, the 888.com brand, which operated from an office in St John's, Antigua, felt the need to establish itself in a European jurisdiction. It chose Gibraltar and obtained a gaming licence to operate there in 2003. Over the course of the next 12 months, Cassava/888.com relocated its managerial and operational centre, gaming and deposit servers, and member-support staff from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean.
Assym originally went to Gibraltar for six weeks to train Cassava/888.com's new workforce on the Rock, but ended up fully relocating there, along with about a dozen of his Antiguan colleagues, in January 2004. As time passed, Cassava/888.com made Gibraltar its main headquarters, and its Antiguan operation was reduced to a skeleton staff. At present, Cassava/888.com's Antiguan office employs about 50 members of staff, compared to about 300 in the Gibraltar office.
We spoke at length about a foreigner's life in Gibraltar. At first sight, Antigua may not appear so different from Gibraltar. Both are popular cruise destinations and share a common British colonial past. There are also similarities in the makeup of their respective economies, since both are heavily reliant on the tourism trade while at the same time being major offshore banking and online gaming centres. However, for Assym, the parallels end there. "I wish I could say there are similarities between the two places, but I can't seem to find any; they are miles apart," he said.
Indeed, it is the many miles that separate him from his family and friends back in Antigua that Assym cites as the main difficulty with adjusting to life in Gibraltar. Being away from home also has made him appreciate the things he normally would take for granted in Antigua. "I miss the nightlife and the beaches, which is quite strange, considering I don't know how to swim," he grinned. Clearly, Gibraltar's handful of beaches pale into insignificance when compared with Antigua, which is said to have 365 beaches, one for every day of the year.
Assym compliments Gibraltarians on their laid-back attitude to life, quite a tribute from someone who hails from the Caribbean. However, he remains unaccustomed to the way government departments in Gibraltar revert to "summer hours" for three months of the year and sees the humorous side of the fact that appointments in Gibraltar are seemingly rarely kept. Gibraltar can be an extremely claustrophobic environment to live in, even when you have access to Spain on a daily basis. Assym is further limited by the fact that he is unable to travel within the EU without having to go through the costly and time-consuming process of acquiring a travel visa.
Nevertheless, he has used his time in Europe wisely, taking every available opportunity to visit European capitals and acquaint himself with nearby Spain. In August he visited Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain for the Tomatina festival, where thousands of kilos of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the street, creating the world's largest food fight. But despite the cultural eye-opener that living in Europe has been for Assym, he is unsure about his long-term staying power. "Sometimes I can see myself staying here for the next five years, but other times, I ask myself what I'm doing here," he stated.
Assym believes that given the heavy investment that many of the Gibraltar-based gaming firms have made in their local offices, they at least are here to stay for the long term. He also insists that even when he decides to call an end to his time in Gibraltar, there will be plenty more to fill his place. "Gibraltar has a certain attraction to it for people from all over the world; most people would jump at the chance of moving there," he said. I asked Assym what advice he would give to foreign workers who are planning to relocate to Gibraltar. His suggestion was simple, "Accept Gibraltar for what it is." That's handy advice if you ask me, from a veteran of Gibraltar's gaming industry.
Tristan Cano lives and writes about the gaming industry in Gibraltar.
