floor of the House of Assembly last Friday cannot go unnoticed. Clearly Mr.

Paul Sonnabend, President of Sonesta Hotels, and the Hon. C.V. Woolridge are on opposite sides where casinos are concerned. This newspaper has no problem with that, but surely if the Minister of Tourism had a disagreement with the views of a major hotelier it would have been wise to discuss that in private rather than insult the hotelier in public on the floor of the House of Assembly.

Gambling is a vexed question in Bermuda, practised openly but hypocritically condemned. Mr. Woolridge calls Bermuda a "clean, Christian-living community where the churches should be the leaders''. Yet the churches are not leaders on the subject of gambling because they are in total disarray on gambling.

Some churches use gambling openly to their own ends, some turn a blind eye and some condemn gambling as destructive of persons. In that sense, churches are very similar to politicians.

As an example, Mr. Woolridge says he hopes Bermuda will never have a casino.

Yet Mr. Woolridge puts on his broadcasting hat, announces at cricket games and, while broadcasting, constantly advertises the "stock market'' as an attraction at the games. The "stock market'' is slang for the Crown and Anchor tables at cricket games. Yet Mr. Woolridge says that gambling is a "fundamental moral issue''. He also hoped that the House of Assembly would never agree to have gambling in Bermuda.

Shadow Minister for Tourism Mr. David Allen, in the House of Assembly, supported Mr. Woolridge's stand against casinos. However it is clear that the Progressive Labour Party is not unanimous on the subject since Shadow Environment Minister, Mr. Julian Hall, has publicly supported casino gambling.

This newspaper recognises that Bermuda already has extensive gambling and thinks the public should accept that fact. Hypocritically, Bermuda prefers to pretend it does not have gambling but openly gambles on events which take place abroad. There are also many people who say Bermuda does not have gambling, preferring to ignore the extensive gambling which goes on in clubs.

The fact is that Bermuda has a great deal of gambling, some of it to benefit churches. That being the case, this newspaper sees little wrong with a Bermuda lottery aimed at supporting such things as medical care.

We recognise that Bermuda does not have enough for visitors to do in an era when sun and sand are no longer the attraction they once were. The Premier's Commission on Competitiveness must try to overcome what Mr. Sonnabend identified as a reputation for being "expensive and dull''. A casino attached to an entertainment centre in a central location like the site of the Bermudiana Hotel would certainly provide things to do.

However, we have doubts about the suitability of a casino for Bermuda. There was a time when a casino was a ready source of cash but we doubt that is true now that there are so many casinos both inside and outside the United States.

We also believe that the operation of the casino and the control of attendance at the casino would cause controversy Bermuda does not need. We think a row over a casino would outweigh any cash benefits to Bermuda from such a casino.