Premier Emil Brown, Bermuda’s head executive, is considering allowing online casino operators to establish their businesses on the island. During a time when many countries are restricting online casinos, the potential economic benefits of supporting the online gambling industry are great.
Brown is basing his considerations on the example of Antigua, which created 3,000 jobs and generated $37.5 million in taxes through the online gambling industry in 2000. Unfortunately, the ‘Antigua Model’ was abolished in 2006 by the US’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Antigua officials asserted that the Internet casino companies based in their country gave its people a chance to build better lives for themselves and their families.
Allowing the multi-billion dollar online gaming industry to enter Bermuda could relieve the island’s dependence on tourism which is volatile to other nations’ economies and the slowing of the global economy, create more jobs and give the Bermudan people a way to make money without smuggling drugs.
Brown is also considering opening land-based casinos on the island. Gambling laws have already been relaxed and casino games are now permitted on docked cruise ships. Former Premier Renee Webb made a statement about online gambling, saying, “I was publicly in support of legalizing gambling. Firstly, because it already exists through bingo, horse-racing, football pools and Crown and Anchor. So you are not legalizing gambling but extending what already exists island wide.
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