Casinos are likely the least problematic element of the gaming industry, according to the former chief executive of Britain’s Gambling Commission.

Jennifer Williams, who met with local politicians this week to discuss the coming implementation of integrated resort casinos, said that there was a widespread misconception about the negative impact of casino gaming.

“When our legislation went through to enable more casinos across the country, there was an incredible uproar about casinos,” she said. “And it’s nonsense because if there is an issue about gambling, and you can debate about how much there is, casinos are the most supervised, controlled places for gambling environments in the world.

“In the UK, there is very little trouble coming from casinos, unlike pubs or arcades or things. They are just not that sort of environment. They are just so supervised; everything is recorded.

“There’s a mythology about money laundering in casinos, but it’s not an obvious place to launder money when you have your picture taken and recorded at every point.

“That’s not to say that if you have a corrupt management you wouldn’t have a problem, but that is why there is so much effort on the depacking who the investors are and who benefits by all regulators.”

Ms Williams set up the UKCS, which regulates commercial gambling and lotteries in the UK, in 2005 and led the body until her retirement last year. She said was invited to the island by Richard Schuetz, the CEO of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission, and was invited to speak with local leaders on Wednesday.

During the meeting, she said she was inundated with thoughtful questions about the issues and challenges surrounding gaming.

“People were very interested in my experience, but also what the issues for Bermuda would be,” she said.

“People are always concerned about any expansion of gambling; problem gambling and money laundering, that sort of thing. But the reality is it’s going on anyway. It’s probably not that much of an expansion, but you already have the problems of problem gambling.

“You probably already have a huge population doing remote gambling, using their phones. In the UK, we thought it was much better to have people inside a regulated space.”

She said that she emphasised the importance of creating a flexible regulatory structure to allow the industry to develop over time, noting that some areas in the United States have encountered difficulties because they were attempting to replicate the regulations in place for bricks-and-mortar gambling sites for internet gaming.

“Rather than take into account the flexibility of technology, they seem to be trying to tie it all down in what is a very bureaucratic-type way,” she said. “We talked a bit about that flexibility and innovation.

“There was a good question about if there are only two or three maximum places, how can you have innovation? The competition is coming from the products that are within the premises and the suppliers and the software people. You need your regulations to be flexible, otherwise things can become stagnate.

Ms Williams said she did not believe Bermuda should attempt to become a hub for internet gaming, calling the success of jurisdictions such as Gibraltar an “accident of history and tax”.

She said: “In Gibraltar-type markets, there is very low corporation taxes. Because of that and other places not allowing that kind of gambling activity at the time, they were able to build up a great concentration of such businesses.

“I’m not sure if the telecommunications system here would be up for it. Gibraltar is having to spend a fortune in putting in telecoms to keep themselves going. I’m also not sure what it would do for employment. In Gibraltar, they are bringing in all the IT whizz kids. In Bermuda, I’m sure you have some IT whizz kids, but if you don’t have enough, you would be bringing in loads and loads and loads of expats. I just don’t know what the advantage to operate here would be, but I’m not an investor.”