Bermuda, a resorts and gaming expert said yesterday.

Mr. Robert Sturges, vice-president of resorts and gaming for Carnival Cruise Lines, told the Second Island Tourism International Forum that American visitors like to gamble when they are on holiday.

More and more destinations are building casinos to help attract them, Mr.

Sturges told the forum, hosted by the Centre for Tourism Research and Innovation at Bermuda College.

"Caribbean islands are finding more and more in order to compete in the North American market that casino gambling is an amenity people are looking for,'' he said.

A recent study showed 50 percent of American adults had gambled in a casino, up from 33 percent in 1989, he said. "We're in the middle of something extremely dramatic that is happening in the attitude toward casinos.'' Once associated with the underworld, gambling is about "to take its rightful place side by side with all other leisure industries.'' Interviewed after his presentation, Mr. Sturges of Miami would not directly enter the debate over whether Bermuda should legalise a casino. "It is a political issue; reasonable minds can differ on it,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "There's an opportunity for any island who wants to take it.'' In addition to religious and other grounds, casino gambling is opposed in Bermuda due to concerns it would downgrade the Island's status as a top-market visitor destination.

Mr. Sturges said he agrees a Las Vegas type casino would not be appropriate for Bermuda. But, "there's no reason why you have to have that style of gaming,'' he said.

English or Monte Carlo style gaming which emphasises formal dress, table games rather than slot machines, and "very elegant, very quiet'' play "in my opinion would have absolutely no negative impact'' on Bermuda, he said.

A parallel could be drawn to casinos aboard the cruise lines Carnival and Holland America, both of which are owned by his company, he said.

Carnival, a mass-market cruise line, has casinos which feature "bells and whistles,'' and "a lot of noise,'' he said. About 65 percent of revenues are taken in through slot machines, he added.

But on Holland America ships, which serve an upscale market, a "more understated, European'' style of gaming is featured, he said. In Holland America casinos, about 65 percent of revenues are from table games, rather than slot machines, he said.

Carnicon, a related company, owns Crystal Palace in Nassau, the largest casino in the Caribbean. It also owns casinos in Freeport and San Juan, and manages a casino in St. Martin.

In the US, a huge number of states have now legalised casinos, when as recently as 1989 only Nevada and New Jersey permitted gaming, he said. And "we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of the spread of casino gambling in the US.'' There, revenue growth doubled between 1982 and 1991, he said.

Meanwhile, in a development once thought ridiculous, Las Vegas is becoming a family destination along the lines of Disney World, he said.

"I don't think it is unthinkable within the next ten years that we could see family-oriented businesses like McDonald's, or even Disney, get into the gaming business,'' he said.

Also yesterday, consultant Ms Diana Orban of New York said there was no reason why cruise ships should hurt hotels.

If treated properly, a large percentage of cruise visitors will return on land packages, and cruising can be "a powerful ally to the imaginative hotelier,'' she said.

But "almost nothing is being done anywhere to encourage the cruise visitors to return,'' Ms Orban said. In many cases, "they are barely tolerated.'' GAMBLING GAM