by Brian Major
Last updated: 4:20 PM ET, Tue December 16, 2014
Photo courtesy of Thinkstock
The "integrated" facilities - hotels and resorts featuring large casinos - have yet to arrive. Nevertheless, casino gaming is now legal in Bermuda. The country's parliament approved legislation this past week to introduce casino gaming to the archipelago's shores.
Establishing casino gaming in the territory has been a key initiative of Shawn Crockwell, Bermuda's tourism minister. Crockwell first proposed resort-based casinos shortly after taking office in 2012, touting them as a means to reverse Bermuda's lagging visitor arrivals. Bermuda faced a competitive disadvantage versus other warm-weather destinations which offered resort casinos, he said.
"In the past 30 years, Bermuda has moved from a tourism industry leader to an industry outsider," said Crockwell in a December 12 ministerial briefing. "The Bermuda tourism sector has seen near zero compound annual growth in total visitation over the past three decades while during the same period global tourism has experienced exponential growth."
Crockwell said the legislation, formally known as the Casino Gaming Act of 2014, "represents a significant and critical adjustment to our tourism product and to Bermuda as a destination."
While he noted "There has been virtually no investment in new properties in Bermuda," in decades, he said Bermuda "still has an opportunity to regain its position as a tourism industry leader" through "improved service levels and "new products which include new properties, amenities and entertainment activities."
Resort-based casinos will also generate economic expansion and increase Bermuda's tax revenues, Crockwell said.
"By no means is the introduction of casino gaming the panacea to revitalize our tourism industry," he added. "But it can certainly be a catalyst for jobs and aid the recovery of tourism," he said.
[BLURB]"By no means is the introduction of casino gaming the panacea to revitalize our tourism industry... But it can certainly be a catalyst for jobs and aid the recovery of tourism." - Shawn Crockwell, Bermuda tourism minister [/BLURB]
Crockwell said public opinion in Bermuda favors casino/hotel development. The minister held tree public forums at which he discussed casino during 2014, but later rescinded an earlier promise to sponsor a public referendum on the issue.
Some Bermuda officials and citizens oppose casino gaming in the destination on economic as well as moral and religious grounds.
Wayne Furbert, a current parliament member and Crockwell's predecessor as tourism minister, told a Bermuda newspaper that passage of the legislation created one of the "saddest days of my career in politics" and predicted the casinos could attract "pole dancers and prostitution."
"The Bill seeks to put in place a legislative and regulatory framework that will help provide an environment where the integrated resorts can succeed," countered Crockwell.
He said the legislation will also seek "to mitigate the potential negative consequences of the casinos on our society."
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