The selling of overseas lottery tickets by local bookmakers is to come under scrutiny at two meetings to be held this month.

The special sessions of the Betting Licensing Authority will be much more “extensive” than usual, according to chairman Juan Wolffe.

He told The Royal Gazette the authority had only recently become aware of betting shops selling tickets in foreign lotteries and needed to find out more.

“We probably wouldn’t have raised it if the issue of the lotteries hadn’t come up,” he said. “What we would have raised would be questions being asked of the betting establishments as to what exactly they do.

“We didn’t know this was going on until it was brought to our attention. We have been discussing it since. At the hearings, we are intending on canvassing all these issues with all the relevant applicants.”

This newspaper reported last month that Paradise Games on Court Street was offering tickets for the US Powerball lottery, which had a jackpot of more than a billion dollars on January 13.

In a post on www.royalgazette.com, Paradise Games wrote: “We purchase Powerball tickets on behalf of customers through a licensed agent in Florida.”

This paper also previously reported on the selling of Powerball tickets for $3.50 — they retail for $2 in the US — at the same betting shop in March 2014. Florida Lottery has said it does not endorse such schemes but will pay out winnings to anyone with a ticket legitimately bought in the state.

Last month, we visited three other betting shops in Hamilton — Sea Horses, Gametime and Triple Crown Racing. Only the latter said it sold foreign lottery tickets, in the Caribbean Super Lotto. The cashier said Triple Crown was an authorised agent for the lottery. Six establishments have bookmaker’s licences under the Betting Licence Act 1975 and all are due to expire on March 31.

The authority will consider an application to renew from Gametime, which has shops on Front Street, Water Street in St George’s and Somerset Road in Sandys, on February 18 at 12.30pm in Magistrates’ Court 4.

The February 26 hearing, at the same time and in the same venue, will consider renewal applications from Stonley Ltd, owner of Sea Horses, and Axum Ltd, owner of Paradise Games.

The sessions are open to the public and Mr Wolffe said interested parties were welcome to get in touch beforehand to view applications.

“It’s important for the public to have awareness of these establishments and make any objections should they so desire,” said the senior magistrate. “I don’t see any reason why any of that information should be private.

“It’s important for persons especially to know what the location of the establishment is, its hours of operation and what sort of activities take place that can touch and concern very seriously the social landscape of the community.”

Axum Ltd, owned by Opposition leader Marc Bean, has also submitted an application for a new bookmaker’s licence for betting premises in Boaz Island, Sandys, but a hearing date has not yet been set.

Bermuda’s Lotteries Act 1944 prohibits the sale or distribution of “tickets or chances” in “any lottery ... in Bermuda or elsewhere”.

The Betting Act 1975 states that nothing in the Lotteries Act 1944 can “render unlawful the business of receiving or negotiating bets by a licensed bookmaker or licensed pool betting agent”.

Police commissioner Michael DeSilva declined to comment last month about the legality of offering customers in Bermuda the chance to take part in the Powerball draw.

A spokesman said: “The Bermuda Police Service at this juncture does not have any public comment on the aforementioned subject. We will in the future revisit our position in the event there is something we would like to communicate to the public via the media.”

The other members of the Betting Licensing Authority are Elizabeth Christopher, Andre Heyliger and Michael Smith.