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Tourism Minister declines to speak on casino issue

Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert does not want to comment on his opposition to cruise ship gaming, which he expressed when it was debated and defeated in the House of Assembly in 2009.At the time he sat in the House of Assembly as an independent and argued that many of his constituents were against it on moral grounds and Government needed to wait until a feasibility study into gambling on the Island was completed, and then it could “package a deal to the community”.Almost a year later, following his switch to the Progressive Labour Party, he told this newspaper: “I’m a team player. I will support the party on issues going forward. There are some issues I will not support. Gaming is one of them. I am who I am.”Following the completion of the feasibility study, Mr Furbert spoke out against legalising gaming in Bermuda when a Green Paper was debated later that year. The Green Paper did not address the scenario of only allowing cruise ship in port gambling.Asked if he supported cruise ship in port gaming now, Mr Furbert would not comment. “You know how Cabinet works. My colleagues will look into the issues regarding opening up casinos on the ships and we’ll come to a Cabinet decision.”