Premier Alex Scott has decided to put the issue of gambling to the wider membership of his party.

Tonight members of the Progressive Labour Party?s central committee will be invited to think about the issue and report back next week. And pro-gambling Tourism Minister Renee Webb will be allowed to put her views at a joint meeting of PLP parliamentarians and central committee members later this month.

Mr. Scott reaffirmed his opposition to gambling for Bermudians but says there might be a case to allow it for tourists. He said: ?We want to, more and more, bring the membership into making Government decisions.?

Licensed gambling was a tax on the poor, said the Premier, but it had scope for luring overseas visitors. He said: ?Maybe there is a case for discussing it if it adds to the GDP base.?

Despite tourism Minister Renee Webb expressing her support he said it had yet to be raised in cabinet. Mr. Scott denied allowing visitors and banning locals would be a form of segregation.

He said such a formula worked in other jurisdictions such as the Bahamas.

?I have been down there, they accept it. You can go from one end of the Bahamas to the other, no one is saying ?I demand I can throw my money away, please let me throw my money away?.?

Every year locals flock to gambling haunts in Vegas while many enjoy online poker.

But denying Bermudians the right to gamble in their own country was no different from denying those with fast cars the right to drive faster than 20 mph argued the Premier.

?I love to go to Vegas. I have been there and enjoyed going on cruise ships and have had a wonderful time.

?But I have the responsibility to make sure we don?t put at risk our community. We don?t have to rediscover the wheel.

?It is not a case of saving up a few dollars for a trip to Vegas. If it?s there every day you can slip of the house at the end of the month with half the rent money and think you will take a chance and then lose it.?

He said legal gambling might temporarily boost government coffers but soon society would be picking up the tab for families evicted because they couldn?t pay their bills.

And he said he wasn?t personally promoting the idea of liberalising the laws for tourists.

?The party has been, over the years, against gambling for Bermudians and gambling in Bermuda. If you allow the local population you are really taxing those with limited resources.?

Asked about recent pushing of the boundaries of the island?s gambling laws such as poker at Flanagan?s and the Casino night at the Leopard?s Club Mr. Scott said ?as far as authorities were aware? it was within the law.

Opposition tourism spokesman David Dodwell said discussion was needed about gambling but the debate should be taken out of the political realm.

He said the discussion should put gambling in the umbrella of what to do with entertainment in Bermuda with what the potential tourist wanted being a major factor in the debate.

A proper study should be done to base the debate on rather than it being about the whims of particular politicians, said Mr. Dodwell. But he said no-one should see licensed gambling as being the panacea for tourism?s ills.

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