Activist Jonathan Starling has delayed plans to deliver a petition calling for a Gaming Referendum in an effort to gather more signatures — and verify the thousands already collected.

Speaking outside of the House of Assembly, Mr Starling said he wanted to present the petition last Friday but that plan had been put on hold so he could verify the signatures were all from registered voters.

“We have also had quite a number of people come up to us and say that they would like to sign the petition but they would like to attend the public meetings that Government is holding on this issue,” Mr Starling said.

“Government has extended them due to last week’s industrial action and there has since been an additional meeting announced by the youth wing of the OBA.

“In accordance with that, and due to the good response we have had, we have decided to extend the petition collection going forward in order to make sure everyone has the opportunity to have a say in the matter.”

Mr Starling also noted that the Referendum Act remained on the House of Assembly’s Order of Business, so there was no reason it couldn’t still be debated and the referendum held.

“The more signatures we have, the better likelihood we have of being able to hold the Government account and encourage them to go back to their original plan of having a referendum on this issue,” he said.

The petition is available for signing at Rock Island Cafe, Kirk’s Jewellers, the BIU Gas Station, the BIU headquarters, Chewstick, the BPSU headquarters and The Book Cellar in St George’s.

An online petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bermuda-gaming-referendum.