Interest is building in the community, after a call from a former Cabinet Minister to form a coalition against legalised gambling.

Quinton Edness said he received positive responses to his opinion column in The Royal Gazette last week, calling for the residents to ban together against legalised gambling.

Two members of churches have expressed interest in joining a coalition, he said, although much remains to be done.

"I have not done anything yet to form the coalition," Mr. Edness said. "I will let it simmer and see. Maybe, in due course we will call a meeting."

Government is planning to enforce the Prohibition of Gaming Machines Act 2001 beginning next month which will outlaw the Island's 300-plus machines.

But debate on legalised gambling has been hot recently as an overseas speaker predicted to the Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago that legalised gambling will come to Bermuda within five years.

Lyall Hall, a partner with KPMG in Toronto who has worked on casino projects around the world, said Bermuda will not be able to resist the trend that has already swept North America.

His speech prompted Mr. Edness's opinion column that Bermuda must resist legalising gambling.

But one local bar owner has warned that making gambling illegal will only drive it underground.

Rick Olsen, owner of The Beach bar on Front Street, said an upcoming ban on gaming machines "is going to cause a black market".

"Actually," he said, "it already has."

He refused to go on the record backing up that statement but said he has seen it going on.

"Gambling will never disappear," he said. "Now it is just going to be less regulated."

And, while Mr. Edness claimed the "word on the street" is that The Beach brings in an estimated $90,000 a week with their gaming machines, Mr. Olsen said those figures were inflated.

Mr. Edness said the money being pumped into The Beach's gaming machines could be supporting small businesses instead.

Mr. Olson however disputed his argument.

"The figures are way off base," he said. "It is more like $15,000 a week. It is irresponsible of Mr. Edness to speculate on the figures unless he has the facts."

"I do not own the machines out right. The bar gets half and the owner of the machines gets half."

Mr. Olson also owns 90 machines in Turks and Caicos, with three partners, which each bring in about $200 a day.

In Turks and Caicos, the Government gets 30 percent, the bar gets 30 percent, and the machine's owner gets 30 percent, he said.

"Bermuda is a similar market to Turks and Caicos and the international average, on a daily basis, is $120 per machine."

Mr. Edness said gambling will have an overall negative effect on Bermuda.

If enough people show interest in his scheme to form a coalition, he said he will contact the National Coalition Against Legalised Gambling (NCALG) in the US for help in setting up a local chapter.

"We should join together and fight this any way we can," he said.

"I do not have a plan yet for forming a coalition but I think it is a good idea for people that are concerned and know gambling will not benefit society."

Mr. Edness hopes to educate the public on gambling by using the NCALG as an information pool.

"The (gambling) machine is the item that causes someone to become addicted," he said.

"It is a faster addiction than card games. The higher percentage of people that become addicted are those that use the machines verses any other method of gambling."

He added: "Gaming machines are the biggest earners for casinos and casinos thrive off of compulsive gamblers."

Mr. Edness said he believed that when a state or business produces something that is addictive, people have the authority to take it to court.

And he added that the Chamber of Commerce needed to closely look at the impact gambling may have on small businesses.

"It behoves the Chamber of Commerce to look seriously at this because gambling draws money out of the community," he said.

"The Union, Chamber of Commerce, and the Employer's Council should all be very concerned about legalised gambling because it will hurt their people."

Mr. Edness believes that the enormous amount of money that legalised gambling would draw out of the community could cause businesses to go under.

"The Chamber of Commerce and the Employer's Council should be concerned about this," he said. "People that lose their jobs will most likely be Union members."

Anyone interested in joining the coalition against gambling can contact Mr. Edness at 238-1639.