Casinos should be allowed in Bermuda if gambling is to be permitted on cruise ships docking here, according to the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Philip Barnett said the welcome news that the cruise ship Veendam was due to visit Hamilton in 2010 and 2011 brought the topic of gambling into the spotlight again.

Premier Ewart Brown announced in June that cruise ships would be allowed to operate late-night casinos in port.

Mr. Barnett, owner of Island Restaurant Group Ltd., said: "We need to have a dialogue to move towards allowing a casino operation to be on land in Bermuda.

"We have lost our original cachet that we had 30 or 40 years ago with regard to our nightlife and entertainment.

"For many people, the majority of people actually, gambling is simply a form of entertainment."

He said it was ridiculous to ban casinos when Bermudians could wager money on sport, play bingo, go online to gamble or jump on a plane and be in Atlantic City in a few hours. "There's all sorts of unlimited access to gaming," he said. "Gaming is not a vice."

Mr. Barnett questioned whether it was fair to allow overseas businesses to come here and operate casinos but not give Bermudian business owners the same privilege.

"This is something that we need to look at so that Bermudians have the same rights as those on the cruise ship," he said, adding that lots of members of the chamber had approached him on the topic.

But Bishop Lloyd Duncan, from the New Testament Churches of God, said gambling was a vice and introducing casinos on land could add to the Island's social ills.

"I feel as a community we just need to be very careful as to what we legislate," he said. "To me, it's just opening the door and the vice gets its foot in the door.

"I feel if you do that, slowly you are dismantling some of the things in the Island."

He said Bermuda was much smaller than North America and should not necessarily be trying to emulate what went on there.