bars and lottery tickets? As nearly as we can tell, they are both games of chance. There is no skill involved. You buy the card and scratch and you get lucky or you don't. That's a game of chance.

Either the law is an ass or someone in authority is not doing their job. If the law on this subject is "about as clear as mud'' as Police Superintendent Vic Richmond has said, then it should be corrected. If there is a clear interpretation of the law, then it should be stated openly and plainly but what we are getting from the Attorney General's Chambers is that they have been too busy to revisit the issue since the Senior Magistrate ruled that bingo was quasi-legal.

That department has stated, once again, that nothing is being done because the Police have not received a complaint and have not been asked to investigate.

Surely there is a duty here to be sure that the law is in order and to supervise the enforcement of laws.

Let's be clear here. We think it is a long stretch from bingo played in private members' clubs by attending members to bingo played on television by people in their homes. And all of that is a long way from dispensing "bingo'' scratch cards to all and sundry from vending machines in bars. These cards bear little relationship to playing bingo except, is you win, the card says "bingo''. That card might just as well say any other five letter word.

Are these machines in public places? Yes. Are they "bingo?'' Hardly. Are they a game of chance? Yes. Is that illegal? Clearly, someone has to decide.

In Bermuda we do not have a national lottery because the "powers that be'' feel the public is not generally in favour. They appear to fear the churches, some of which already use bingo. Yet we think that a properly run scratch card lottery would produce important amounts of cash which could be used very productively to support the hospitals which are soon going to be prohibitively expensive or the national sports programme or the new CedarBridge Academy. If we are to have games of chance sold in public places then the proceeds should be a national benefit. Right now we appear to have privately run public bingo and now these cards but we deny Bermuda the benefits of a national lottery.

We do not think that makes very good sense. We have consistently opposed casinos because of the unwanted "baggage'' they bring with them but there does not seem to be a valid objection to a lottery, especially now that games of chance are creeping in. Let's face it, we can already bet on most sporting events in local betting shops and much of that money benefits other countries.