"The minute you increase gambling, you pander to the gambling mentality and you open the door wider to other similar activities, like casinos.'' -- The Hon. Quinton Edness.

One area of gambling which has been carefully looked at by several United Bermuda Party governments -- and always rejected -- is a national lottery.

National lotteries are an acceptable form of gambling in many countries throughout the world, with a few notable exceptions such as the United Kingdom.

But in Bermuda, every effort to introduce one has met with one closed door after another. Although not quite as unpopular with politicians as casino gambling, a national lottery is still a considerably long way from becoming an acceptable Bermudian past-time.

When the prospect of a lottery was put to an open vote in the House of Assembly during the 1970's, it was overwhelmingly defeated.

A decade later, Minister of Finance the Hon. David Saul dallied with the subject again, but his tentative proposals found little support within government and were ditched.

Dr. Saul says: "I said two years ago that we would look at it again, but Government had decided not to pursue it at this time.'' The door remains open, though, for an MP to bring a Private Members' Bill to introduced a lottery for a specific project, such as to raise money for Bermuda College, the National Stadium or King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

One of the strongest supporters of a lottery is the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, whose members recognise its vast revenue potential.

With the economy performing as poorly as it had been over the last two years, immediate past Chamber President Mr. Thomas Dickinson believes now would be as good a time as any to set up a lottery.

"We as Bermudians have got to collectively change the way we conduct our business,'' he says. "We have to do things differently to make this whole scenario work in everyone's favour. A lottery would enhance our economic position.

"In the 1970s, things were in pretty good shape. That's not the case now and we have to optimise everything we can. Revenue from a lottery could help Government pay for important capital projects.'' The Chamber does not really look upon a lottery as out-and-out gambling, says Mr. Dickinson. However, the bar to a lottery being introduced still seems to be the moral issue of gambling. Like casino gambling, a lottery appears to be too hot a political issue for MPs who support it to handle because of church opposition.

Consequently, the prospects of a national lottery in Bermuda look as dim now as they have ever been. MP the Hon. Quinton Edness, who is now Minister of Health, Social Security and Housing, was asked by Government to look into the provision of a lottery in 1978 while he was Minister of Community Affairs.

But his endeavours came to nothing and he has personally never been a supporter of gambling. Although a lottery might seem like a good idea, particularly to raise money for special causes, it could rapidly lead to other forms of gambling coming to Bermuda, says Mr. Edness.

"My own personal view is that I'm opposed to a lottery,'' he says. "The minute you increase gambling, you pander to the gambling mentality and you open the door wider to other similar activities, like casinos.

"I don't believe Bermuda needs to have theses kind of operations to earn money for it to carry out its social programmes and provide a living for its citizens. It brings with it a lot of negative baggage.

"Basically, it's more of a fun thing than serious gambling,'' he adds. "I don't believe you can draw an analogy between that and a state-run lottery, which is more organised and requires a certain infrastructure to make it work.'' Although Bermuda permitted some forms of gambling and, yet, took a high moral stance on others, Mr. Edness says: "To argue that we have a double standard is a nonsense.

"Life is full of double standards. That does not mean you have to correct one wrong by adding another onto it. "It's like saying that because we have alcohol, which is legal and is the most abused drug in our society, then we might well have all the other drugs too.'' Bermuda is a tourist destination for families, honeymooners and children; not for the gambling kind, he says. "The principle of no gambling has served Bermuda well for many, many, years.'' He adds: "It's typical whenever there are stringent economic times for people to start clamouring for lotteries and to forget the deterioration in the morals of the Country that's likely to occur as a result of these types of activities.

"This is not a party or Government position; it's my own. If there are those who're pushing this to a higher discussion platform in the public eye, I shall fight against it.'' Deputy Speaker of the House of assembly Mr. Ernest DeCouto voted against the lottery plan in the seventies and said he would do likewise if the scheme was resurrected.

"Bermuda is a quality resort: we don't want casinos or a lottery,'' he says.

"We should be able to attract the type of quality tourists to assist in our economy without having to resort to casinos or other forms of gambling.

"I was listening to a radio to a radio programme recently on BBC Word Service and it was stated that 95 percent of people who get involved in gambling are losers.

"That is what you are dealing with: it destroys families.'' Sad human stories of people's lives almost being ruined by games of chance have helped shape his opinions.

"I was talking to a man whose marriage in the 1950s was almost called off because of an incident involving gambling,'' he says.

"He took out a loan from the bank and went to town with a considerable amount of money with the intention of buying furniture and other essential items for the couple's new home.

"Instead, he went straight to a place where they had in-house gambling and, several hours later he left completely broke. A huge row followed and the wedding was almost called off as a result.'' Similarly depressing tales abound wherever gambling is allowed, according to Mr. DeCouto. "I was in Atlantic City a while back for the vegetable growers' AGM and you couldn't help but notice the number of stories in local newspapers about people stealing to get money for gambling,'' he says.

Where there is gambling, there is crime as people seek out cash.'' Gambling could destroy Bermuda's image as easily as it destroys the lives of many who participate in it, he says. "People come here to get away casinos and from people pestering them to buy lottery tickets,'' he says. `Do we really want a situation where tourists are hounded down our streets by someone trying to sell them lottery tickets.? Bermuda doesn't need this.

"We only need half a million visitors to Bermuda each year to make the economy work. All right, we're going through a difficult period at the moment.

It's only understandable that business is down but we should stay the course and, hopefully, things will recover.'' Bermuda Christian Ministerial Association president the Rev. Harlyn Purdy says lotteries hold false promises, particularly for low income people.

"You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than of winning most lotteries,'' he says. "Yet people, especially those in economic strait-jackets, will often risk money they can't afford to risk in the hope of hitting the jackpot. Over a period of time, these people often lose a great deal of money.

"The insidiousness of a lottery is that you're only asked to pay out as little as a dollar a ticket, which seems very insignificant, but it adds up very considerably and very quickly.

`I've know families on social assistance in Canada who were spending more than $100 a week on lotteries or other forms of gambling.

"The lower paid are certainly the ones who suffer the most from spending money on gambling. Gambling is driven by the desire of people to `get rich quick'.

"Low income people look upon it as a chance to haul themselves to a better life. They are looking for the big windfall. Of course, in reality, all it does is push them deeper into debt.''