diff --git a/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c b/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
index 53ba8a49593..27f10c20cb4 100644
--- a/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
+++ b/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ bitmap_t *sdl_osd_interface::font_get_bitmap(osd_font font, unicode_char chnum,
 {
    UniChar uni_char;
    CGGlyph glyph;
-   bitmap_t &bitmap = (bitmap_t *)NULL;
+   bitmap_t *bitmap = (bitmap_t *)NULL;
    CTFontRef ct_font = (CTFontRef)font;
    const CFIndex count = 1;
    CGRect bounding_rect, success_rect;
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ bitmap_t *sdl_osd_interface::font_get_bitmap(osd_font font, unicode_char chnum,
 
       bitmap = auto_alloc(machine(), bitmap_t(bitmap_width, bitmap_height, BITMAP_FORMAT_ARGB32));
 
-      context_ref = CGBitmapContextCreate( bitmap.raw_pixptr(0), bitmap_width, bitmap_height, bits_per_component, bitmap.rowpixels()*4, color_space, bitmap_info );
+      context_ref = CGBitmapContextCreate( bitmap->raw_pixptr(0), bitmap_width, bitmap_height, bits_per_component, bitmap->rowpixels()*4, color_space, bitmap_info );
 
       if( context_ref != NULL )
       {