I am writing in response to the letter addressed "A Lesson from Ontario" by Andy Smith of Warwick which was printed on December 26 in your paper, in regard to a casino in Bermuda.

Mr. Smith encourages anyone looking into the casino issue to visit Brantford, Ontario and have a look at the "large casino" in that city. I also encourage anyone to do the same, but not for the same reasons Mr. Smith has listed.

It is suggested in his letter that opening a casino would bring money, tourism and a revitalised downtown core to this city and that this didn't happen. I would suggest to Mr. Smith that he is quite wrong in his assessment.

As the manager of the Brantford-Brant County Chamber of Commerce I would like to explain the real facts of the casino in Brantford, Ontario.

Approximately six years ago the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Association decided to open "small charity casinos" in a number of smaller communities in Ontario, Brantford being one of them. (Brantford's is approximately one quarter the size of a regular casino).

These casinos are subject to rules that "large casinos" are not. It cannot advertise more then 20 miles from our city which restricts the ability to advertise to tourists, and employees cannot gamble in the casino. Because it is a charity casino a certain amount of the revenue collected has to be given to local charities to help with their projects.

It is also mandatory that a percentage of the revenue collected from the slot machines is given to our city each year, and that amounts to approximately $1 million a year.

In the beginning not all city counsellors were in favour of a casino, so the Chamber felt strongly that business should have a voice in the matter and consequently conducted a survey of business members with the results being very in favour of having a "charity casino". The Chamber lobbied city council members to reconsider and to make a long story short the casino because a reality and there have been many positive spin-offs from the casino such as:

Employment for up to 1,000 people, most of which were unskilled labour;

The revenue from the slots to the city;

A committee set up by the chamber, which includes tourism, business and casino people at the same table working to do what is best for all concerned

A rebuilding of our downtown with a number of new pubs, restaurants and student housing

Construction of a new grocery store in the downtown because of the demand for the people living in the downtown area

The planning and building of a communications technology centre in the downtown to be shared by Laurier University and Mohawk College.

With the money the city received from the casino, an education fund was established with most of the money streamed to Laurier University, to set up a satellite campus in the downtown core of our community. The first year the University had 35 students, the second year it had more then double that and this year it has over 700 students with projections of more then 1,200 next year.

What does that mean to our downtown? It means the YM-YWCA is going to locate downtown with a new building to include all of the facilities for students from swimming pool, to gym facilities and a running track.

It means entrepreneurs are buying up properties and demolishing them to build beautiful new housing facilities and apartments for the students.

It means our beautiful grand theatre is being used on a regular basis for graduations.

It means new bars and restaurants are opening catering to students and it means a grocery store that wouldn't have been built in the downtown without the influx of the students.

It also means buildings are being donated to the University, so they can expand their areas of study.

Nothing happens overnight and I am not sure when Mr. Smith was last in Brantford but I do encourage him to return and see the progress of what has happened through the money donated from the casino.

Plans are in progress to build a new building downtown to house a communications technology centre. The students who attend can literally graduate with a combined university degree and a college degree because of an arrangement between Laurier, Nipissing and Mohawk College.

I also understand that our city has been approached by another hotel chain in regard to building a hotel/conference centre in the downtown area.

The funding from the casino made the beginning of all of this possible. The money from the casino had to be used for anything other than taxes and ongoing expenses.

I am not saying a casino is the answer for Bermuda and I am not hiding the fact that yes, I know of a few instances where the people involved went overboard and lost their money and other belongings but the one mentioned by Mr. Smith was one that happened shortly after the casino opened and we haven't had any other sensational cases since.

A casino does not make you gamble, it is your choice the same as everything else in your life. If a person wants to gamble, they will, regardless of how far or what they have to do to accomplish it. At least if Bermuda had a casino the money would stay in Bermuda which it does not when people gamble on the Internet.

Bermuda is a wonderful island which I enjoy very much. Whether a casino is the answer for Bermuda or not is up to those involved in the issue and maybe for the whole Island to decide by a referendum and for those people to investigate thoroughly before a decision is made because as with anything in life there are two sides to a story.