Former Attorney-General Mark Pettingill claims newly passed legislation aimed at preventing corruption in the casino industry is “superfluous” and could impact his business.

The government backbencher spoke out against a section of the Casino Gaming Amendment Act when it was debated in Parliament on Monday, as did independent MP Shawn Crockwell, though the legislation was ultimately approved with no objections.

The contentious clause prevents Cabinet ministers from any involvement in the gaming industry for two years after they leave office. The same restriction applies to any parliamentarian or public officer whose responsibilities relate directly to gaming and any member or employee of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission.

Alan Dunch, commission chairman, said yesterday that the two-year “cooling off period” was not unusual and would help persuade regulators in the United States of the robustness of Bermuda’s regulatory regime.

But Mr Pettingill said: “There is no like jurisdiction of a similar type of size that has that type of provision.”

Mr Pettingill resigned from Cabinet in May 2014 so the legislation will not affect his ability to represent gaming clients.

But fellow lawyer Mr Crockwell, who works alongside Mr Pettingill at Chancery Legal law firm, only quit as Minister of Tourism in March this year so will have to wait until March 2018 to be able to represent anyone in the casino industry once the amendment is enacted into law.

Mr Pettingill told The Royal Gazette yesterday he was concerned about how their business would be affected, claiming it could be difficult for one partner in the firm to represent gaming interests, while another could not. “We have the ability to apply for a waiver but our clients are asking the questions,” he said. “I am concerned and I’m sure they are concerned about how this impacts on us.”

He told MPs on Monday: “Tomorrow, former minister Crockwell has to call our clients and say ‘we can’t work for you any more’.”

Yesterday, he added: “I was making a technical point.”

Chancery Legal was formerly called Pettingill & Co and lists “gaming” as one if its specialities in its Bermuda Yellow Pages advert. Clients with gaming interests are believed to form a large part of the firm’s business.

It has represented the Morgan’s Point developers in recent months in relation to gaming, though Mr Pettingill told the House that it was no longer working for that particular client.

He said the amendment did not go to a vote because the Opposition did not oppose it but he would not have voted against it anyway, despite his misgivings over the two-year ban.

“I wouldn’t have objected to the Bill because ... the Bill had to be done,” he said. “I had an issue with the section but I said ‘I’m not prepared to draft an amendment’. I think it’s superfluous.”

As reported previously by this newspaper, the draft amendment originally proposed by the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission would have banned all politicians from involvement in the gaming industry for two years after they left office.

Mr Dunch said the provision which was tabled and which passed was “perhaps not as robust” as had been proposed by the commission but the island’s overall regulatory package, once in place, was likely to satisfy the bank regulators in the United States.

“There are multiple jurisdictions around the world that have similar provisions to the one that’s contained in the Bill,” he said. “There are jurisdictions that have cooling off periods that are longer than two years and jurisdictions that have shorter than two years.

“Of paramount importance to Bermuda as a jurisdiction is the issue of satisfying the US regulators who regulate the US correspondent banks (see front page). “Therefore, the most relevant jurisdictions for our purposes, when looking at our regulatory package, will be the US jurisdictions.”

He said the provision in the Bill was modelled on similar legislation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And he dismissed Mr Pettingill’s comment about no “like jurisdictions” of a similar size as “irrelevant”.

“This is all about satisfying the only people who can get us correspondent banks.”

Richard Schuetz, the executive director of the commission, told a meeting of business leaders last week that of the 42 amendments contained in the Casino Gaming Amendment Act, there was “none more important” than the anti-corruption provisions.

Mr Pettingill and Mr Crockwell were instrumental in getting gambling legalised in Bermuda while in Cabinet. The pair travelled to Singapore on a fact-finding mission in January 2014, which cost taxpayers almost $50,000.

Mr Dunch and Mr Schuetz have since said the Singapore model is not the right model for Bermuda.