Around 30 people turned out to a Constituency 33 meeting last night to learn about and discuss the proposed Gaming Bill that is to be debated in Parliament today.

Constituency 33 MP Jamahl Simmons called the meeting to explain the Gaming Bill and also to give his constituents the opportunity to share their views about the bill and gaming in general.

Mr Simmons spoke along with Shadow Tourism Minister Zane DeSilva, who highlighted that under the bill will be the creation of three gaming licenses and a gaming commission. Mr Simmons told The Royal Gazette: “There were a lot of things we couldn’t answer, particularly when it came to issues such as guarantees for Bermudian jobs because we are not the Government — we could only present the bill as is and speak to concerns that we might have had.

“The main concern is making sure that Bermudians are involved and not just at the lower levels positions but have the opportunity to advance and be part of ownership as well as management.”

According to Mr Simmons, most of the feedback from the meeting was concerned with whether Bermudians would benefit from a gaming industry at all levels, not just entry level, while one constituent mentioned the broken promise of a referendum on gaming.

Mr Simmons added: “The feedback was very important, particularly for me as a new MP because it wasn’t an issue that was raised on the doorstep.

“I wanted to get a taste of how people felt, which will help my decision on how I will vote on the day.

“Bruce and Steve Simons of the Spinning Wheel, who are in the process of setting up a school for people wanting to get into the gaming industry — they were very passionate about making sure that Bermudians were included.”