The mayor of the Guam town of Santa Rita says a bill that will ban gambling in the territory will seriously hurt community groups in his town.
Earlier this week, the Senate unanimously voted to approve bill 19, which will outlaw all gambling on the island once the public hospital's debt has been paid off.
But Dave Alvarez says the bill will affect popular community activities like bingo and cockfighting, which he says are used as fundraisers for sports equipment and field trips which the government doesn't provide.
He says such activities will suffer and gambling is most often the only source of funding they have.
"We're in a bad economy right now you know. We're getting downsized, your promotions are being held back, your pay raises are being held back because we're struggling. Now they're going to try and kill the only source I can get."
Dave Alvarez says he has been talking to a number of senators about his concerns and he hopes a concenssion will be made for activities like bingo and cockfighting.
