Gambling in Bermuda, again

One of the things that bugs me the most about our antiquated laws regarding gambling is how Bermuda seems to pick-and-choose which particular aspects of games of chance are deemed to be legal and perfectly acceptable.

• Poker? Nope.
• Bingo? Yes.
• Roulette? Nope.
• Roulette at a Fair? Yes.
• Slot machines? Nope.
• Raffle tickets? Yes.
• National Lotteries? Nope.
• Betting on overseas horse races at various establishments? Yes.
• Crown And Anchor? Depends on the day of year, and the venue. Sheesh.

Why the government feels obligated to legislate 'morality' is both silly and hypocritical. Appease the church lobby and perceived huge voting block? Almost certainly. But it doesn't change the fact that the above contradictions exist.

Bermuda missed the boat on not only a national lottery with revenue being used for either sports, charities or the impoverished, but also the poker tournament craze. Either of these had the potential to be a revenue stream for Bermuda (the latter serving as a tourism-boosting product, of course). I'm neither here nor there about the casino option; if the hotels wanted it, fine, but what about those bars/restaurants that used to have slot machines that were later confiscated? Surely it would be hypocritical to allow hotels to do it but not regular bars/restaurants? Anyway, I digress.

So here we are, another decade later, and the government considering a referendum to allow (only) casino-style gambling establishments to be implemented.

And if the proposed bill is anything like the crazy crap that turned a simple cell phone use while driving law into a convoluted, legal hole-picking misconstruction of a 'policy', we're in for some more crazy crap, with accusations of collusion, favour-dealing and other chicanery ready at the launch.