Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards has warned embracing Internet gambling would be like "waving a red flag to a bull" to anti-gaming authorities in the United States.

Consultants hired by Government and hotels are currently assessing Bermuda's credentials as a potentially money-spinning centre of online gaming, which could mean people in the US having their wagers processed on the Island.

However, Mr. Richards said this would risk angering American officials who have tried to stamp out Internet gambling and have already clashed with Antigua and Barbuda over its position as an online gambling centre.

And he believes any perceived link between Internet gambling and money laundering could also jeopardise Bermuda's reputation as a clean host for international business.

"We don't want to go down the same road Antigua went down," Mr. Richards told The Royal Gazette.

"The risk is it would be like waving a red flag in the face of a bull, and the US is not the kind of bull you want to be charging at you."

He said online gambling could make money laundering more difficult to stop as cash is transferred online from one account to another.

"We are trying our very best to keep our reputation pristine as far as money laundering is concerned," he said.

"We are quite frankly inconveniencing people a great deal with this anti-money laundering stuff. The purpose is to keep Bermuda's reputation clean.

"We have an international business sector here that Bermuda is dependent on. Doing something like this could put this in jeopardy — just by putting this in the wrong place at the wrong time."

According to reports, Antigua — which became an Internet gambling centre in a bid to end its reliance on tourism — used to generate $37.5 million in taxes and provide 3,000 jobs before the States began introducing laws blocking its residents from using online casinos.

Mr. Richards said he did not believe such a high number of jobs could possibly be created by online gambling.

Internet gambling is just one of many ideas being considered in the $300,000 Innovation Group survey.

The major prong of the study is to assess the impact of introducing casinos to Bermuda, which hoteliers and Premier and Tourism Minister Ewart Brown believe could help revitalise the struggling tourism industry.

Innovation Group will also consider whether a national lottery could work on the Island.