January 10, 2012Dear Sir,I see that Ministers are considering allowing cruise ships to open their casinos in port, and I am almost certain that there is an international law which states that all cruise ships must close their shops and casinos in port wherever they are in the world. Quite apart from international law, it is a very bad idea to start a precedent for this practice here in Bermuda. The obvious thing for us to do is open a state of the art casino at Dockyard; it should be very smart, first class service. open bar, good looking ladies serving drinks, all the things that make for a classy casino, but on a small scale. There are certainly plenty of attractive venues in Dockyard for this, Casemates being one.This would be a way of finding out if this is a good idea for Bermuda or not. If Ministers are afraid that the locals will go berserk with the rent money, then just allow tourist to participate, as they used to do in Monte Carlo. You had to be in evening dress in those days, and produce a passport. There is no doubt that casinos will come to Bermuda sooner or later, and if we are serious about keeping tourists happy, then the sooner the better. It is absurd to overlook the huge financial benefits this would bring to the island, and why should cruise passengers spend their money on board when they could just as well gamble in Bermuda? We need the extra cash, let’s face it. I expect this letter to be met with a storm of disagreement, but I hope that some among us will see the light.E RABENPaget