A pair of betting shop owners have set about changing the image of the industry from the traditional dark and dingy gambling den with the launch of their new and modern premises in<\p>Hamilton.

Former national cricket team players Albert Steede and Cleon Scotland, who started GameTime, formerly the International Fixed Odds betting shop, on the corner of Victoria Street and Cedar Avenue two years ago, have relocated to the Emporium Building,<\p>Front Street and officially opened their doors for business on Monday.

The new shop, based at the former Christopher Walker Ltd. site is anything but the stereotypical spit-and-sawdust betting shop, offering all the mod-cons from five flatscreen televisions showing the latest sporting events to two iMac computers with Internet access and even display monitors with the time in New York, London, Las Vegas, Dubai and Sydney.

The bright orange and white decor and illumination itself is certainly lighter than the dark basement in their old premises and it has already received rave reviews from other local business owners who have popped in to pick up some design tips of their own.

And Mr. Steede and Mr. Scotland, who originally bought the business from Alan Lindo at the end of 2006, believe their latest venture will be a breath of fresh air for their punters.

Meanwhile, the new location has the advantage of being in the centre of town, on the doorstep of the sports bar at Flanagans Irish Pub and Restaurant and with good parking access.

"We are always looking to move to more of a prime location and then this opportunity came along," said Mr. Steede.

"Cleon (Scotland) saw it advertised in the newspaper and we talked about it and said this would be the ideal location for us."

The shop offers a range of betting on international sports, such as UK and European football, cricket, American and College football, horse racing, tennis, boxing and motorsports.

Mr. Steede and Mr. Scotland, who have signed a two-year lease on the building, are keen to dispel the myth that sports betting is illegal, pointing out that they are fully qualified to take bets from anyone aged 18 or older after being given two sports betting licences by Government.

And the pair, who also employ two part-time staff at weekends, claim to have a "moral conscience" as betting shop owners to ensure that their customers do not do anything as risky as gambling their houses or mortgages away, while lending a helping hand to first-time betters to improve their chances of winning.

"At the end of the day, for us - they are just entertaining themselves by watching a sport and they might want to predict who is going to win, which is where we come in," said Mr. Scotland.

"I think it is important to show our customers that we are investing in the business by setting up this new shop and prove that the owners are not just taking the money and not putting it back into the venture."

Mr. Steede and Mr. Scotland also describe themselves as "ambassadors for Bermuda" - having had a lot of interest from tourists on their first day of opening through the sale of phone cards and Internet access for the children.

"In addition to doing this, we are Ambassadors for the country," said Mr. Steede.

"We got a lot of traffic and questions since we opened and have been giving out tourist information, so it has gone full circle really because there used to be a tourist information centre in this building before."

The pair have sponsored a number of sporting events, including karate, the Junior Squash Championship and their first love of cricket in order to give something back to the community. But what they enjoy most about their line of work is the chance to learn and develop the business as it grows with them, focusing on a high quality of service and immediate pay-outs of winnings with the ethos that the first impression is a lasting one.

During their time in business together, they have converted from a fractional odds to a decimal price system to make it easier for punters to understand the various permutations, as well as Mr. Scotland using his computer background as a Saltus Grammar School IT technician to create an innovative website which gives details of all the day's action and is updated on a daily basis.

The new shop was refurbished by interior designer Karl Travis from Cooper & Gardner, Paterson Contracting, Keen Ltd., Joey Trott of Bermuda CableVision, Kenneth Butterfield of Ascending Technologies Ltd., IT technician Edmund Johnson, Gino Phipps from BTC and Custom Acoustics.

The betting shop is open on Mondays between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesdays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and with option to extend those hours depending on the season. Internet access costs $5 for 30 minutes.

For more information about GameTime contact 296-3222 or visit the website at www.gametime.bm