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US gaming consultant resents court appearance

Bermuda would have sued the local prosecutors of three illegal lottery charges if the charges had been laid in his home country, a Magistrates' Court trial heard yesterday.

"If this (case) were being prosecuted in any one of the United States, I would probably have brought criminal proceedings against you as an individual for selectively and maliciously prosecuting me,'' bingo expert Roger Gibson of Atlanta told Crown Counsel Mr. Peter DeJulio.

Gibson was referring to the three illegal lottery charges that the Attorney General's Chambers has levelled against Neil Inchcup, the owner of the Freeport Gardens bingo parlour at Dockyard, and the DeFontes Broadcasting Company Ltd.

Inchcup, 59, is charged with operating an unlawful lottery at his Dockyard facility on October 18 and with using a multi-purpose room at the Clocktower Mall for the purposes of a lottery.

On trial for the offences since Tuesday, he had also been implicated with DeFontes Broadcasting of conducting a prohibited lottery by televising a series of bingo games over VSB-TV last October, but was acquitted of the charge after his lawyer, Mr. Richard Hector, petitioned Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis on Wednesday to have his name dropped from it.

DeFontes Broadcasting, which is being represented by Mr. David Cooper in the matter, still faces the charge.

Yesterday, Gibson, who was hired by Inchcup to advise him on the running of a bingo operation, said he resented being embroiled in the current criminal proceedings and demanded a letter from the AG's Chambers that exonerated him of any wrongdoing.

Although Gibson was not personally named in the AG's charges, he said that he had a professional reputation to maintain and even hinted on Thursday that he might sue the Labour and Home Affairs Ministry for granting him permission to perform a job that was later declared unlawful.

During yesterday's testimony, Gibson said the idea to televise bingo over VSB was his and not InchCup or DeFontes' and that he came up with the concept after watching MarketPlace bingo on ZBM-TV last spring.

During the trial, the issue of why Inchcup and DeFontes have been charged with operating an unlawful lottery when other bingo operators haven't has been raised by Mr. Hector, who characterised the authorities' actions as unfair and selective.

Yesterday, Gibson made a similar contention, testifying that VSB had even consulted with lawyers and the Broadcast Commission before airing the TV bingo games.

Drawing on his own personal and professional experience, he also tried to distinguish between a bingo game and a lottery by stating that bingo required "certain skills'' and an "average intelligence'' in order for players to succeed.

Mr. DeJulio, however, attempted to convince Mr. Francis that the playing of bingo required no greater skill than the ability to recognise five letters and a series of one-to-two-digit numbers, and he brought in a store-bought bingo game for ages six to adult as proof.

The prosecutor also suggested that Gibson was sympathetic to the defendants' case because he had a professional stake in the trial and particularly a not-guilty verdict.

Gibson denied the charge, saying that he would have testified as he did under any circumstance.

After Gibson had given his testimony, Mr. Hector rested his case on behalf of the defence.

Closing arguments from both sides will be heard on May 9.